て Form

 ABOUT: 
■ The て form has many usages. The primary uses are:

There are other usages you'll pick up as you progress.

For example, the "and" usage above can sometimes show a causal relationship which should be translated as "so" rather than "and." This restaurant has delicious food, so I love it. 

But for now, learn a few examples to get a feel for how to use it.

 How to Use:

Before we look at usage, let's first learn how to form the verb and adjective forms separated by affirmative and negative tenses.

Prerequisite: If you don't know how to make the simple past (た) form, please see the two videos below and then click here for a more detailed explanation on how to do that. We'll use this knowledge to construct the て form.

Even if you are familiar with constructing the た and て form, it would be a good idea to watch those videos.

■ Affirmative Verbs Form: Add て to the simple past tense of the verb. This form is surprisingly regular. Simply change the た ending to て and だ ending to で. This works for all types of verbs (Group 1, 2, and irregular verbs)

Take the simple past of a verb and change the た to て (or だ to で) 

■ Negative Verb Form: Addで to the simple negative form.

■ Affirmative Adjective Form: For i-adjectives, change the い into くて.

■ Affirmative Adjective Form: For -na adjectives, simply add で .

■ Negative Adjective Form: For i-adjectives, change the ない into なくて. For -na adjectives, you change the auxiliary verb after the adjective.

Study Notes:

■ Simple Commands: Use the て form as a way to utter a command. If this is too direct, add ください to make it more polite.

ケーキを食(た)べてください。

cake | (direct object marker) | eat | please

 Please eat the cake.

スーパーに行(い)って。 

supermarket | to | go

Go to the supermarket.

And here are examples of how to command someone to not do something:

ケーキを食(た)べないでください。 

cake | (direct object marker) | don't eat | please

Please do not eat the cake.

スーパーに行(い)かないで。 

supermarket | to | don't go

Don't go to the supermarket.

■ Linking Sentences (conjunction): It can also be used as a conjunction "and" or "and then…"

私(わたし)は、映画館(えいがかん)に行(い)って、友達(ともだち)と会(あ)いました。

I | as for | movie theater | to | went and | friend | with | met

I went to the movies and met a friend.

I could have written that as two sentences:

私(わたし)は、映画館(えいがかん)に行(い)きました。友達(ともだち)と会(あ)いました。

I | as for | movie theater | to | went | friend | with | met

I went to a movie theater. I met a friend.

But combining them with the て form sounds more natural.

Another example:

家(いえ)に帰(かえ)って、ビールを飲(の)みました。

house | to | returned and | beer | (direct object marker) | drank

I returned home and drank a beer.

And here are two more examples using the negative form:

晩(ばん)ご飯(はん)を食(た)べないで、寝(ね)ました。

dinner | (direct object marker) | didn't eat and | slept

I went to bed without eating supper. 

切符(きっぷ)は高(たか)くなくて、買(か)いやすいです。

ticket | as for | wasn't expensive and | buy | easy | is

The tickets are not expensive and easy to buy.

■ Present Participle—Action is Currently Occurring: This is the -ing form. This is used with いる or the more polite version います (to be) after the -て form to indicate continuing action. What are you doing now?

今(いま)、日本語(にほんご)を勉強(べんきょう)しています。

now | Japanese language | (direct object marker) | study | am doing

Now, (I) am studying Japanese.

[しています is the て form of する (to do) and いる (to exist; to continue)]

まだ (not yet) is often used with the negative:

まだ郵便(ゆうびん)が届(とど)いていません。

as of yet | mail | (subject/object marker) | didn't arrive

The mail hasn't arrived yet.