Structure
Examples:
[る1]Verb → 見る + て
[る5]Verb → 座る + って
[う]Verb → 歌う + って
[つ]Verb → 打つ + って
[く]Verb → 歩く + いて
[ぐ]Verb → 泳ぐ + いで
[ぬ]Verb → 死ぬ + んで
[ぶ]Verb → 飛ぶ + んで
[む]Verb → 休む + んで
[す]Verb → 話す + して
Exceptions:
行く → 行って
する → して
くる → きて
問う → 問うて
請う → 請うて
Details
Part of Speech
Verb
Word Type
Conjunctive Particle
Register
Standard
About Verb + て
In Japanese, て is a very important conjunction particle that can be used with many different structures. When it is partnered with a verb, it has special conjugation rules, depending on whether it is being added to a る-Verb or a う-Verb. In the case of う-Verbs, it also depends on what the preceding kana is.
The most common translation in any situation is just 'and' or 'then', due to (B) being highlighted as something that happens/happened after (A).
In these examples, we can see that て basically means '(A) て (B)' = '(A) happened, then (B)'. However, this is only when it is linked to another verb.
Sometimes the て form appears as で. This is a change that happened throughout the course of history, in order to make sentences flow more smoothly. Despite this, there is no difference in meaning between て and で as a vocal change.
The easiest way to identify whether to use て or で is by looking at the preceding kana. If the plain (dictionary) form of the verb finishes in ぐ, ぬ, ぶ, or む, then で will be used. る-Verbs never use で.
Caution
There are several irregular verbs when it comes to て form conjugation. Let's look at an example of each one.
Apart from these 5 verbs, the rules for て form conjugation are 100% consistent.
Related
Examples
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Get more example sentences!
Premium users get access to 12 example sentences on all Grammar Points.
(食べる)→ 食べて
To eat → To eat and then.
(洗う)→ 洗って
To wash → To wash and then.
(返す)→ 返して
To return (an object) → To return (an object) and then.
(歩く)→ 歩いて
To walk → To walk and then.
(泳ぐ)→ 泳いで
To swim → To swim and then.
Self-Study Sentences
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Online
Aeron Buchanan's Japanese Verb Chart
Wikipedia Commons
Brief Japanese - history of て form, why is it so irregular and why の can follow and all its uses explained.
BriefJapanese [cross-posted to Reddit]
Videos #13 ~ #17 cover all forms
Japanese Ammo
て- Form of Verbs
PuniPuni
Offline
[DBJG] A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar
Page 464
Genki I 2nd Edition
Page 150
Marugoto Elementary 1 (A2) Rikai
Page 56, 65
みんなの日本語 I
Page 92 [CH 14]
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Verb + て – Grammar Discussion
Most Recent Replies (41 in total)
Jake
Present Tense
Structure
- [る-Verbs] → て
- [う-Verbs: す] → して
- [う-Verbs: く] → いて
- [う-Verbs: ぐ]→ いで
- [う-Verbs: う・つ・る] → って
- [う-Verbs: む・ぬ・ぶ] → んで
- Irregular Verbs [する] → して
いく→いって, する→して
View on Bunpro
barclayaz
How does the structure table fit with the example for “いく→いって” which is correct, yet if I follow the table: [う-Verbs: く]-> いて seems like I would end up with “いく→いて”
Maybe I am misunderstanding this structure table somehow… or this is an exception?
Thanks!barclayaz
Never mind… I think I understand that the “Warning” symbol is telling me that these are exceptions. I like this warning symbol (in the Grammar Discussion) better than the finger pointing on the main review page. It is more clear to me that these are exceptions… something I did not realize before. User error!
seanblue
I agree that the warning sign is better that the finger.
Also, I don’t see why the で would be orange instead of yellow since it’s part of the primary construction of the grammar.
mrnoone
@seanblue @barclayaz
I have changed the structure to be more understandable (including ️ suggestion).backto2122
It doesn’t seem to say what the actual use of the て form is.
seanblue
て form has a lot of usages.
mrnoone
Hey
Basically, a verb in て form + Phrase means: “verb and Phrase”. In other words, it connects sentences.
AてB can be also used to state reason/cause A for the B. But it is MUCH weaker than から or ので.Like @seanblue says, て form has many uses and this lesson was more about conjugation than the uses.
I will try to add another lesson with example sentences and more explanations.backto2122
ah okay,
thanks for the answerAnthropos888
In a sentence like this:
撮影は3か月かけて行われました。How to exactly describe the function of the て form? Does it mean “The photo shooting took 3 months and has been carried out”? Or “…took 3 months to be finished”?
How to translate 行う here?
And would the sentence also be correct using the intransitive かかる instead of the transitive かける?mrnoone
Hey, you can use both:
撮影は3か月かけて行われました。撮影は3か月かかって行われました。
They will differ a bit in nuance, the former would mean that you planned it to take 3 months. The later would mean that you didn’t expect it to take that much time, sort of negative nuance.
It took three months to finish the movie.
Anthropos888
Thanks for the explanation!
So the て form has a function like “in order to” rather than “and” in that sentence?
Another example:
彼は日本を代表して会議に出た。How to translate the て form here?
- He represented Japan and attended the conference
- He attended the conference and represented Japan
- He represented Japan at a conference
- In order to represent Japan he attended the conference
I don’t really get the sequence/order of things connected with て
seanblue
If it’s the “and” meaning it has to be in order. So I don’t think sentence #2 is valid. Sentence #1 would be correct in that case.
But sometimes て form can translate like an adverb. I’d probably translate the sentence to “he attended the conference as a representative from Japan”.
Anthropos888
Thanks, the adverbial function makes indeed sense in this sentence/translation.
Jul3
Is it me or does Bunpro not explicitly teach the negative form of て, ie. なくて?
It just forms parts of other grammar points, and also, reviews for other items use it and assume I know it, eg/nakute.JPG954×297 29.3 KBmrnoone
You are actually right!
I have added it to the to do list right now!
Thank you!
cdr
I dont understand the first two lines of the ‘meaning’ page:
V(る1) → 見 る → 見 て
V(る5) → 座 る →座 って
What do the “1” and the “5” mean?
Anthropos888
There’s a link to the structure legend below the structure:
https://bunpro.jp/structure_legend
There you can find all explanations with examples for the abbreviations.
cromachina
There is a lot of information in this review point (13 associations, more associations than there are levels). Shouldn’t this really be 13 different grammar points? The problem I encounter is getting a review for one association (say V(る1) → 見 る → 見 て), and then the next review is for a totally different association (say する→して), and then quite often failing it. I see that by doing this, eventually all of the associations I don’t know will be added to ghost reviews, however they don’t get trained through all of the SRS levels individually, weakening the retention of the info (also making it a frustrating experience).
seanblue
Honestly, I think conjugations are best learned outside of Bunpro. I think Kitsun has a nice deck on conjugations.
https://kitsun.io/store/detail/5cb36c68eb68123c400f0168
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