〜て
Conjugation:te-form
The connecting form of verbs and adjectives. It links an action or description to what comes next ("do X and…"), makes requests with 〜てください, and is the base of many patterns such as 〜ている.
Conjugation rules
- For ichidan verbs, replace る with て.
- For godan verbs, the ending depends on the last kana: う, つ and る become って; む, ぶ and ぬ become んで; く becomes いて; ぐ becomes いで; す becomes して.
- 行く is the one common godan verb that breaks this: it becomes 行って.
- する becomes して and 来る becomes 来て (irregular).
- い-adjectives replace the final い with くて. な-adjectives and nouns add で.
Examples
ichidan
食べる(to eat)食べて
godan う・つ・る
買う(to buy)買って
godan む・ぶ・ぬ
飲む(to drink)飲んで
godan く
書く(to write)書いて
godan ぐ
泳ぐ(to swim)泳いで
godan す
話す(to speak)話して
exception
行く(to go)行ってnot 行いて
irregular
する(to do)して
来る(to come)来て
い-adjective
高い(expensive)高くて
いい(good)よくてnot いくて
な-adjective
静か(quiet)静かで
noun
学生(student)学生で
Less common
問う(to ask (literary))問うてnot 問って
Also 請う (to request).
Notes
- The た-form uses exactly the same sound changes, with た and だ in place of て and で.