Why is it important to learn te-form rules?

Question

Te-form seems so complicated, but isn't te form for commands?

Answer 1

The te-form can be a shortcut for the "Please..." requests, so that is why it feels like they are used for commands.

te-forms open a wide variety of extra endings that you can't access from the masu form. One of those forms is the "-ing" (present progressive). Some of the others include "after (verbing)" and "(verb) and then (verb)".

It seems complicated, but there are simple tricks that help simplify the patterns. There are 3 different types of verbs so there are 3 distinct patterns.

FYI, If you want more details on how to change the verbs, here's the patterns:

1-For the ichidan verbs (that end in iru or eru in their dictionary form), you just remove the ru for the masu form and replace the ru with a te. For example, tabe-ru (たべる or 食べる, to eat) becomes tabe (たべ or 食べ) in the masu form and tabe-te (たべて or 食べて).

2-For the irregular verb suru (する, to do) becomes shi (し) in the masu form and shite (して) in its te-form.

For the irregular verb kuru (くる or 来る, to come) becomes ki (き or 来) in the masu form and kite (きて or 来て) in its te-form.

3-The godan verbs is the biggest category. Verbs that are godans have a wider range of endings. (Let me know if you want a couple of tricks to change them.) For the masu form, just change the う sound at the end of the dictionary form to an い sound. For example, yomu (よむ or 読む, to read) becomes yomi (よみ or 読み) in the masu form. The te-form of yomu becomes yonde (よんで or 読んで).

To change godans verbs into their te forms, find the ending character and change it to the te ending:

-u, tsu, ru changes to tte (for example, suwaru (すわる or 座る, to sit) becomes suwatte (すわって or 座って))

-bu, mu, nu changes to nde (for example, asobu (あそぶ or 遊ぶ, to goof around) becomes asonde (あそんで or 遊んで))

-ku changes to ite (for example, suwaru (すわる or 座る, to sit) becomes suwatte (すわって or 座って))

-gu changes to ide (for example, isogu (いそぐ or 急ぐ, to hurry) becomes isoide (いそいで or 急いで))

-su changes to shite (for example, hanasu (はなす or 話す, to speak) becomes hanashite (はなして or 話して))

Answer 2

Basic: Te form.

「...て」います ＝＞ direct translation is "xxx is/are doing."

現在進行形　= Present progressive form.

*without learning "te form," we cannot make sentences like below.

「今、走っています。」 (I am running now.)

「今、読んでいます。」 （I am reading now.)

Hope this helped you a bit🙂

Answer 3

When you add "te", it'll mean

am doing

will do

Answer 4

Te-form is very important because there are so many other grammer points that use the te-form! For example, if I want to say I'm doing something now, then I need to use the present progressive tense. In Japanese, this uses Te-form. First you conjugate the verb to Te-form, then you add -imasu (or add -iru for a casual conversation).

E.g. I am doing it now.

In Japanese, the verb to do is する (suru), or します (shimasu) in -masu form. So I conjugate it to -te form first. する is an irregular verb and has the te-form of して. Thus, the present progressive would be しています (or している) casually.

If we add in the extra vocabulary we need of 今 (ima -> now), 私 (watashi -> I), は (wa -> signifies the topic), then we can make this sentence. The full Japanese sentence for this example would be: 今、私はしています。

It might be more common for the subject to be implied though, so you might hear 「今しています。」 or 「今している。」

There are many grammar points like this! For example, the short form past tense uses the same rules as te-form, but using ta instead. For example, the short past tense of する (suru -> to do) is した (shita). Or you can ask for permission by using te-form with ~もいいですか？ Once you master te-form, you will be able to easily learn new grammar points and the world of sentences you can make in Japanese will begin to open up!

I learned te-form through songs when I first started, and that really helped me! Here are some that I like:

1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uW1YcozsWh4
2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BEnw7J6hiw
3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkO1jCuhWOw