Grammar Info

N5 Lesson 5: 9/12

～て (Conjunction)And, Then (Linking events)

ている is often shortened to てる. This applies to all tenses, including てる, てて, てた, and even てます

Structure

Examples:
［る1］Verb ￫ 見(み)る + て

［る5］Verb ￫ 座(すわ)る + って
［う］Verb ￫ 歌(うた)う + って
［つ］Verb ￫ 打(う)つ + って

［く］Verb ￫ 歩(ある)く + いて
［ぐ］Verb ￫ 泳(およ)ぐ + いで

［ぬ］Verb ￫ 死(し)ぬ + んで
［ぶ］Verb ￫ 飛(と)ぶ + んで
［む］Verb ￫ 休(やす)む + んで

［す］Verb ￫ 話(はな)す + して

Exceptions:
行(い)く ￫ 行(い)って
する ￫ して
くる ￫ きて
問(と)う ￫ 問(と)うて
請(こ)う ￫ 請(こ)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

--:--

    （食(た)べる）→ 食(た)べて

    To eat → To eat and then.

    （洗(あら)う）→ 洗(あら)って

    To wash → To wash and then.

    （返(かえ)す）→ 返(かえ)して

    To return (an object) → To return (an object) and then.

    （歩(ある)く）→ 歩(ある)いて

    To walk → To walk and then.

    （泳(およ)ぐ）→ 泳(およ)いで

    To swim → To swim and then.

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