what is hanashitari?

i know what hanasu,hanashimasu,and hanashimashita is..

but hanashitari.. i don't remember coming across the ending part tari before.
shi must be relating to past tense however, i don't know what tari is.. i've never come across it. any ideas?

maybe it's the same as hanashimasu?

It is a form often used to connect two sentences that gives an exemple of things you will do/have done. Te-forms are often used to connect, but then it is more like: I did A and then B. With the tari-tari-suru forms it is more like, I did things like A and B. Sample:
先週、映画を見たり、勉強したりしました。
Last weekend I saw a move and studied etc.

Note that even though the tari requires a past tense form of the verb the whole sentence can be used in present tense, this is controlled via the suru at the end.

I know I didn't say everything there is to say about this so please await comments from others to get the full picture. But I hope it helps a little.

David Hallgren said:

I know I didn't say everything there is to say about this so please await comments from others to get the full picture. But I hope it helps a little.

Click to expand...

Well the one thing I will add is that it gives the nuance of 'doing such things as'. So even if you only have _one_ -tari verb you can imply that related activities took (will take) place.