I was reading something and I found this thing attached to a verb. The
sentence was this one:

> ふと脇を見て、そこに洗濯物がたたんであったりしたら。

What meaning does it have?
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2021-05-07T11:01:07.273
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question
grammar verbs conditionals
Meaning of たりしたら
Closest English counterpart I can think of is, "what if" or "just imagine if"

ふと脇を見て、そこに洗濯物がたたんであったりしたら。 What if, I looked to my side, and all the landries
were nicely folded right there. (how convenient would that be!)

It is a form of ommission, unique to Japanese. Imagine the full sentence being
like:

ふと脇を見て、そこに洗濯物がたたんであったりしたら、すごくありがたい。 What if I looked to my side and all the
laundries were nicely folded....that'd be handy!

or

ふと脇を見て、そこに洗濯物がたたんであったりしたら、こわいぞ！

What if I looked to my side and all the laundries were nicely folded....that'd
be spooky! (assuming you are the only one in the house)

I have to see the context, so I can't give you the 100% translation - but I'd
hazard a guess that - it's either someone lamenting how much laundry there is
yet to be folded, or, cracking a joke about kind ghost that'd fold laundry for
you.
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2021-05-07T11:20:32.200
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answer
したら is a conditional expression. This is a sentence (or a sentence fragment)
that consists only of a long "if-clause". The corresponding main clause has
been left out.

たり has two different roles:

  1. Lists multiple actions 

> 休みの日は本を読んだりしています。  
>  On my days off, I read books or do something like this.

  2. Indicates the marked verb is a rare/surprising possibility 
    * [What is the meaning of 〜たりして?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/5705/5010)
    * [What does 良いところだったりする mean in this sentence?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/52637/5010)
    * [Meaning of noun + だったりする](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/13714/5010)

The correct translation would depend on the broader context, but this たり is
probably used in the latter sense. It probably implies that 洗濯物がたたんである in this
situation is a surprising (either positively or negatively) event to the
speaker.

> ふと脇を見て、そこに洗濯物がたたんであっ **たり** したら。  
>  (I know this is unlikely but) In case [I/you/etc] happen to find the
> laundry folded in there...
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answer