List examples without mentioning everything (〜や〜など)
Use the particle や to list nouns as non-exhaustive examples (“things like A and B”), often paired with など at the end to explicitly state “and so forth”.
JLPTN5
[Noun 1] や [Noun 2] (など)ya · nado
The whole list or a few examples
Micro-Shiftりんごと バナナを 買いました。
Complete listI bought apples and bananas.
と gives the complete list: these two things, and nothing else.
While the particle と closes a list exhaustively (本とペンを買いました = I bought a book and a pen, and nothing else), や signals an open sample: 本やペンを買いました implies you bought a book, a pen, and likely other stationery too. Adding など after the final noun (本やペンなどを買いました) makes the open nature of the list explicit, functioning like English “et cetera” or “and such”.