The や is very similar in usage to the と particle we covered before; both have rather the same meaning as "and" or "or", except that と marks two or more things as being connected together to make a complete set whereas や implies that the listed items are not complete.
や lets people know that there is more that is not being said. If you said you had パンとみず for tea (usa: dinner) people may feel sorry for you but if you said パンやみず they will know you ate more (don't take this to literally. People may still understand what you really meant).
You may see the particle など used at the end of a list of things using や; in this context, など simply means "... and such", "... etc." or "... and so on".
私のへやには
watashi no heya ni wa piano [ya] konpyu-ta- [ya] hon [nado] ga arimasu
In my room, there is a piano, computer, books and such.
音楽家や
ongakuka [ya] ga-ma- [nado] ga kimashita
Musicians, gamers and others came.
や in Casual Speech
Keep in mind that the use of や is quite formal and while the particle など may be used to make it a bit more casual, や is usually replaced by the とか particle. とか joins nouns, verbs (clauses) or adjectives to indicate items from a much larger list of possible things: "among other things" or "such things as".
When used with nouns, とか has the same meaning as や but it is more informal.
スーパーマーケットで
su-pa-ma-ketto de kudamono [toka] niku [toka] o katta
I bought fruit, meat and other things at the supermarket.
休みには
yasumi ni wa ga-mu o suru [toka] kaimono o suru [toka] shiteimasu
On my days off, I do things like playing games and doing some shopping.
Additional Notes
Some words may have different meanings or expressions so check out online dictionaries such as japandict.com or jisho.org to find out more.
These example sentences may be presented in an unnatural or artificial way. Continue to broaden your research and listen to how real Japanese native people speak. It's important to make sure you have many other resources to use. Do not rely on this website alone.
As mentioned in the introduction, we'll be using mostly British English (UK) in this course. For those who don't know what a Tea or Tea-time is, that would be a dinner or dinner-time in American language. I am not an American so using the American terms sometimes confuses even me which is why I prefer not to use them and instead explain here what I mean to the non-British.
Here in Britain, Tea refers to the main meal of the day we have at around 3pm or 7pm. It actually has nothing to do with tea as a drink as it use to be like over 100 years ago, mainly among the rich and hosted by women only (tea parties). Just like many Japanese resources out there, even ones about British culture is outdated and misleading.
Tea is just basically what is known as Dinner in the USA, that's it. The confusing part is that Dinner, here in Britain, takes place around 12pm or 1pm, Americans may know this as Lunch instead.
Related Lessons and References
Here is a list of other pages as a reference of what else you may be interested in reading:
Lesson Dictionary
や
や
such things as ...; and ... and
等
など
et cetera; etc.; and the like; and so forth
とか
とか
and the like; such as; among other things; and so on
私
わたし
I; me
部屋
へや
room; chamber
本
ほん
book; volume; script
音楽家
おんがくか
musician
果物
くだもの
fruit
肉
にく
meat; flesh
休み
やすみ
rest; recess; respite; day off; holiday
買い物
かいもの
shopping; purchased goods
来る
くる
to come (spatially or temporally); to approach; to arrive
買う
かう
to buy; to purchase