The TE form of Japanese verbs

Know more about the TE form of Japanese verbs!

Today we are going to know the way てof Japanese verbs. The shape て is interesting because it does not indicate a tense by itself, but combined with other verbs, it can create expressions in different tense than what we have seen so far.

The TE form of Japanese verbs

To use Japanese verbs in the form て we will need these same verbs conjugated in the informal past. So we change the ending た of the verbs in the informal past by て and those who end in だ we exchange for the termination で. Check it out:

飲んだ will come 飲んで

食べた will come 食べて

切った will come 切って

Now that we know how to build the form て, let's see some of its uses.

1. the form て is used to place orders using ください.

見て ください。

聞いて ください。

2. The form て is also used to indicate the present continuous, or gerund, in conjunction with いる and います in formal mode.

昼ごはんを食べて いる。

テレビを見て います。

3. Japanese verbs in the form て are also used to communicate successive actions. Usually in conjunction with one or more verbs.

八時に起きて学校に行った。

デパートに行ってくつを買った。

Realize that the form て in these conditions, it usually comes in the middle of sentences.

4. Finally, the form て can also be used to ask for permission.

In this case, the following rule is usually used: verb in form て + も いい ですか？. Note below:

テレビを見てもいいですか？

タバコをすってもいいですか？

Below you can watch a video that also explains about the TE form of Japanese verbs:

Kanji calligraphy exercise

Below are the Japanese ideographic symbols used in this article. Selecting the desired kanji, copy and paste them into Worksheet for Kana and Kanji Practice , a new window will open where you can view the printable file and practice Japanese calligraphy by covering the gray symbols and then trying to write yourself. Just print and practice