0092- Japanese basics (N5-N3) – Te-form

grammar

What is Te-form? Why is it important? What is the best way to remember it?

 

What is Te-form?

 

Te-form is one of the verb conjugated forms in Japanese.

It is termed Te-form because the final sound of conjugated verbs transforms into either て(te) or で(de).

 

For example, 

 

To eat:

食べる → 食べて

Taberu → Tabe-te

 

To drink:

飲む → 飲んで

Nomu → Non-de

 

Why is Te-form important?

 

Te-form is important because:

 

  • It is essential as it connects with various crucial auxiliary verbs
  • It can be also used alone

 

So, without remembering it, learning Japanese can become challenging for you.

 

But there are tips to remember it easily for you!

 

How to remember Te-form efficiently?

 

To memorise Te-form conjugation easily:

 

  1. Remember Japanese 3 verb groups and how to make masu-form from it
  2. Study Group 2 and Group  3 verbs’ Te-form conjugation
  3. Study Group 1 verbs’ Te-form conjugation

 

are my recommended steps.

 

So, let’s start!

 

Remember Japanese 3 verb groups and how to make masu-form from it

 

Remembering Japanese 3 verb groups is necessary to study Te-form.

Because, the ways to conjugate the verbs into te-form vary according to the group to which a verb belongs.

 

There is an article about  verb groups : Verbs in Japanese

 

In simple terms, it goes like this:

 

  • G1: Verbs which do not belong to G2 and G3
  • G2: Verbs which ends with iru or eru sound (e.g. 起きる:ok-iru: to wake up, 食べる:tab-eru: to eat)
  • G3: 2 verbs only! (来る:kuru: to come, する: surr: to do)

 

And here’s how to make masu-form which you have been familiar with by now:

 

G1 : 

–u → –imasu (e.g. 書く → 書きます (kak-U → kak-IMASU) : to write)

 

G2 : 

–iru → –imasu (e.g. 起きる → 起きます (ok-IRU→ ok-IMASU) : to wake up)

–eru → –emasu (e.g. 寝る → 寝ます (n-ERU → n-EMASU) : to sleep)

 

G3 :

来る → 来ます (kuru → ki masu) : to come

する → します (suru → shi masu) : to do

 

See also: ます形 (masu form)

 

Well, are you ready for te-form??

 

Study Group 2 and Group  3 verbs’ Te-form conjugation

 

It’s getting very difficult from here.

To derive the te-form for Group 2 and Group 3 verbs:

 

Replace ます(masu) with て(te)

 

very difficult, no? ヽ(^o^)丿

 

Here, check the list.

 

 

Study Group 1 verbs’ Te-form conjugation

 

And now it’s about group 1 verbs.

This one is really hard.

 

No kidding, it’s quite challenging.

 

See the below list.

 

 

Looks very tough?

But there is a trick! And that’s why we needed to use masu-form to conjugate it into te-form!

 

*In the current Japanese, only 死ぬ: shinu: to die has this conjugation (because it is the only verb that ends with NU sound). So, don’t blame me using it as the example of -ni masu → -nde change, lol.

 

And here is a trick to remember Group 1 te-form:

  1. Open YouTube
  2. Search “te-form song”
  3. Sing karaoke with your favourite videos !

 

*You’ll find many creators make song videos to make te-form from masu-form.

 

Did you notice a special case: 行く: iku: to go?

 

Independently, there is a special case for te-form.

That is about a basic verb: 行く: iku: to go.

 

While the verb belongs to Group 1, and its masu-form is 行きます (Ik-imasu), similar to 働きます (hatarak-imasu: to work), whose te-form is 働いて (hatara-ite), 

 

Its te-form is: 

 

行って

I-tte

 

To go:

行く: iku

行きますik-imasu

行って: i-tte

 

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