The 'Te' Form

[Tenzin Chodron]

The "Te" Form.

When I think of it, I get ill. It's frightening at times, to be quite honest, and yet it's the key to so much of the grammar in Japanese. If you can grasp the "te" form and use it with proficiency, then the rest of the language is a piece of cake (or so it seems).

So let's look at the basics of the te form, shall we?

Quote:

その　とけい　を　みせて　ください。

Please show me that watch.

Irregular Verbs:
Drop ～ます　from the polite form and add　て.

Quote:

Dictionary Form -- Polite Form -- て Form
する (to do) -- します --　して
くる　(to come) --　きます --　きて

る -verbs

Quote:

いれる　(to put in) -- いれて
みる　(to look at) -- みて
たべる　(to eat) -- たべて
いる　(to exist, be) -- いて

う - verbs
The て -forms of う-verbs differ depending on the verb ending.

Quote:

はく (to write) --　はいて
きく　(to listen) --　きいて
あるく　(to walk) --　あるいて
およぐ　(to swim) --　およいで

くいぐい pattern
If a dictionary form ends in く (or ぐ)
the て-form has いて (or いで).

Quote:

はなす (to talk) -- はなして
だす (to turn in/bring out) -- だして

する pattern
If a dictionary form ends in す,
the て-form has して.

Quote:

のむ (to drink) -- のんで
よむ (to read) -- よんで
つつむ (to wrap) -- つつんで
あそぶ (to play) -- あそんで

むんぶん pattern
If a dictionary form ends in む or ぶ,
the て-form has んで.

Quote:

かえる (to return) -- かいって
はいる (to enter) -- はいって
とる (to take) -- とって
かう (to buy) -- かって
もつ (to hold) -- もって

るうつ pattern
If a dictionary form ends in る, う, or
つ, the て-form has って.

Quote:

Exception: いく (to go) いって

 

[[-Tsukasa-san-]]

>.>;;
I did that last year. It didnt seem that difficult
but then again....
People learn at different speeds.....

 

[Kouichi Pendolse]

Maybe if you had PICTURES instead of fonts, we wouldn't see little fecking blocks!  

[Tenzin Chodron]

Kouichi Pendolse

Maybe if you had PICTURES instead of fonts, we wouldn't see little fecking blocks!

stare Please don't try to make your problems my own. Thank you smile  

[Kouichi Pendolse]

Rin Solaris

Kouichi Pendolse

Maybe if you had PICTURES instead of fonts, we wouldn't see little fecking blocks!

stare Please don't try to make your problems my own. Thank you smile

You're the doof trying to teach us with identical blocks stressed  

[Tenzin Chodron]

You can also use the て-form for adjectives.

い-adjectives
おおきい　[big]
ちいさい　[small]
かわいい　[cute]

な　-verbs
きれい　(な) [pretty/clean]
しずか　(な) [quiet]
へん　(な) [strange]

So to string together adjectives to form a complex description of something, you would use the て-form. Here are some examples:

い-adjective example:
それ　は　おおきくて　ちいさくて　かわいい　です。
That is big, small, and cute.

な-adjective example:
それ　は　きれいで　しずかで　　へん　です。
That is pretty, quiet, and strange.

You've probably noticed the use of く　in these examples. When stringing together adjectives, you need to add the く　in order to make use of the て-form. With the な-adjectives, however, you drop the な and you add で instead.

い-adjectives:
おおきい　-->　おおきく
ちいさい　-->　ちいさく
かわいい　-->　かわいく

な-adjectives:
きれい　-->　きれいな　-->　きれいで
しずか　--> しずかな　-->　しずかで
へん　-->　へんな　-->　へんで

Then you just add the て.　で
おおきくて
ちいさくて
かわいくて

きれいで
しずかで
へんで  

[chinotenshi]

Rin Solaris

Quote:

のむ (to drink) -- のんで
よむ (to read) -- よんで
つつむ (to wrap) -- つつんで
あそぶ (to play) -- あそんで

むんぶん pattern
If a dictionary form ends in む or ぶ,
the て-form has んで.

You need to add in ぬ in this pattern even if there is only one verb that ends in ぬ.
My friends and I lovingly call it the むぬぶ pattern.
のむ(to drink)--のんで (for those without Japanese text support, nomu-->nonde)
あそぶ(to play)--あそんで (asobu-->asonde)
しぬ(to die)--しんで(shinu-->shinde)  

[chinotenshi]

One other thing, cause it's been bugging me for the past few minutes.

Where did you learn that the "-te" form of a "-na" adjective is "-nakute"? I've studied Japanese for six going on seven years now, and I've NEVER seen that used as the "-te" form UNLESS the "-na" adjective is negative. And then it's "-janakute".

I have always learned that the "-te" form of a "-na" adjective is "de"、which is technically the -te form of "desu"
それ　は　きれい で　しずか で　へん　です。 That is pretty, quiet, and strange.
それ　は　きれいじゃなくて　しずかじゃなくて　へん　じゃない。　That is not pretty, is not quiet, and is strange.

Now, if you want, I can check this over with all three of my co-workers and every single one of my students as they are all native Japanese speakers.  

[Tenzin Chodron]

chinotenshi

Where did you learn that the "-te" form of a "-na" adjective is "-nakute"? I've studied Japanese for six going on seven years now, and I've NEVER seen that used as the "-te" form UNLESS the "-na" adjective is negative. And then it's "-janakute".

Oops wink  

[chinotenshi]

Rin Solaris

chinotenshi

Where did you learn that the "-te" form of a "-na" adjective is "-nakute"? I've studied Japanese for six going on seven years now, and I've NEVER seen that used as the "-te" form UNLESS the "-na" adjective is negative. And then it's "-janakute".

Oops wink

Yeah, you might want to go back into your post and edit that so it's correct. That way less people are confused.  

[Yilei]

There's a te form song that was created by a teacher in Hawaii. It goes to the tune of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star too. It's a lot easier to remember te form than straight up memorizing it if you learn the song too.

うつる って
むぬぶ んで
く いて ぐ いで す して
Group 2 verbs are so easy. Just drop る and add the て
Group 3 verbs are only 3
くる きて
する して
いく いって  

[origamiboxers]

I learned the "oompa loompa" and the "santa clause is coming to town" て　form songs.  

[origamiboxers]

wait a minute, i think you forgot to put what the te form is used for...

'te' form verb + imasu = (verb)ing
* Example: Bob-san wa poo wo tabete imasu. = Bob is eating poo.

'te' form verb + mo ii desu ka = may I (verb)
* Example: Otearai ni itte mo ii desu ka? = May I go to the bathroom?

'te' form verb + kudasai = Can you please (verb)
* Example: Kore wo kiite kudasai. = Can you please listen to this?


p.s. changed the title to get rid of the "& quot te & quot" that was showing up.  

[Nagaikami]

The -te firm will continue to haunt you. There is no escaping. Woe to all who know not the -te form.

Ok, enough doom and gloom. It's not that scary of a grammar form. More of a speed bump in learning the language really. But it is important because of it's many uses. The most basic of which is it's use in gerand(sp?) statements, and command/requests. OB already mentioned these, and they're where you'll hear it used most often.

The -te forms ability to link statements is what makes it golden though. If I had a lot more free time and some more visuals, I'd get into that. But it's not necessary for intro Japanese, so it doesn't matter. Just know that it's coming.

それが余り大切で忘れないで下さい　Sore ga amari taisetsu de wasurenaide kudasai. That's very important, so please don't forget.  

[chinotenshi]

Totally saw something that this is missing! The -te form for desu!

The -te form for desu is easy, it's "de"! This is the same "de" that's used after -na adjectives when you list more than one. Also, it's used a lot for connecting sentances and phrases, which NagaiKami didn't go into, and I feel like I should since we're on the subject.

In it's simplest form, the -te form of a verb/adjective can be used at the end of a sentance as "and" to connect that sentance with the next one.

"And" Usage
For example:
I like cats. I also like dogs.

To say these as two sentances, they're simply "Neko ga suki desu. Inu mo suki desu."
To combine them, change the first verb (the "desu" in the cat sentence) to it's -te form ("de"), and say as one sentance:
"Neko ga suki de, inu mo suki desu."
This makes the sentance into "I like cats, and I also like dogs.


BE CAREFUL WITH TENSE!
With the -te form, the tense is shown in the LAST verb. So saying something like "I ate cake, and I drank milk) the last verb shows the tense.
"Keeki wo tabete, gyuunyuu wo nomimashita.



You can even do double -te forms to connect -ing verbs!
For example, "I'm reading a book and doing homework."
Two -ing verbs, right? "reading" and "doing", which are the verbs "yomu" and "suru" respectively.

First things first, let's split this into basic sentences, "I read a book" and "I do homework." This gives us Watashi ha hon wo yomu and Shukudai wo shimasu.
Let's put the verbs into the gerund (-ing) form, which is "-te imasu".
That gives us "yonde imasu" and "shite imasu" for each verb.

Now, we have two sentances: "Watashi ha hon wo yonde imasu." and "Shukudai wo shite imasu."
To combine these, let's look at just the first sentence of "Watashi ha hon wo yonde imasu".
"yonde" is already in the -te form, but we need to put "imasu" into the -te form to connect the sentances. That's easy. "imasu" turns to "ite" in the -te form. That gives us yonde ite for our verb.

Now let's combine the sentances!
Watashi ha hon wo yonde ite, shukudai wo shite imasu.

There you go! Now you have "I'm reading a book and doing homework" in Japanese! To make it past tense, simply change "shite imasu" to "shite imashita" and you have "I was reading a book and doing homework"!

Remember, all you have to do is change the verb in the first sentence into it's -te form and you're set! You can even use this for three, or four, or more sentences, changing each sentance's verb into the -te form, save for the last sentence.


Ugh I so need a chalkboard to explain things -_-;; So much easier to explain on a board where I can write out sentences than online...If anyone is confused by anything (and I'm sure there will be people completely confused by what I just said), just tell me what parts are confusing and I'll try to change them to something easier to understand biggrin