Hi guys this you Doctor, the one that will teach you some Japanese.
Today we will visit the different applications of the Te Form (“て” form).
What is Te-Form?
The “te-form” is basically the Japanese present progressive. It’s called the te-form because you change the verbs to end with “te” (て) or “nde” (んで). There are two groups of verbs, in its basic use the “te” form connects two sentences together, Example: I woke up and went to the bathroom. 起きてトイレに行った.
Group 1 Verbs
Group 1 verbs that end in う (u), つ (tsu) or る (ru) –> You can replace the words with って (tte).
Verbs which end in む (mu), ぬ (nu) or ぶ (bu) –> replace the words with んで (nde).
If you ever used the Book GENKI I, which I highly recommend, lesson 6 in the book goes over the Use of this grammar point.
some example sentences for Te form can be found here:
Ichidan (one phase verb) usually end in “iru” or “eru”
食べる → 食べて
起きる → 起きて
閉じる → 閉じて
Godan (all verbs that do not end with the -iru or -eru)
会う → 会って
立つ → 立って
割る → 割って
書く → 書いて
話す → 話して
泳ぐ → 泳いで
遊ぶ → 遊んで
休む → 休んで
て FORM IS LIKE “AND”
We basically use the て form to hook around two verbs. Basically a word that describes an action being done like “eating” “running” “bathing”. It is used to connect two actions or events together. In English we usually resort to using and such as in “I did this, and I did that.”
- 走ってシャワーをする。
- I run and shower .
- あの店は広くて静かだ !
- That restaurant is spacious and quiet !
The “te” form can explain an event that happens and we have no control over, such as I did not sleep well so I am dizzy. 寝不足でフラフラだ。
To learn the use of “Te” form there is a fun video you can watch on YouTube and sing along with!
References:
GENKI I: An Integrated Course in Elementary Japanese by Eri Banno, et al. (1999) pp. 118-120