JLPT Basic, JLPT Course
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- 23 lessons
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- 96 week duration
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Important Forms
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Practice
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Other Forms
Te Form
In this lesson，I will teach you how to convert Japanese verbs to Te Form.
What does Te Form Mean?
Te form means “please xxx”，For example，食べて means “Please eat”.
Note: There are other usages of Te Form，I will explain them in the grammar lessons.
type-one verb
If the verb is a type-one verb, you can change it to Te Form like below.
| Pattern | How to convert? |
| ○う、○つ、○る | change う/つ/る to って. Examples: 会う→会って (Meaning: to meet) 打つ→打って (Meaning: to beat) やる→やって (Meaning: to do) |
| ○く, ○ぐ | change く to いて, change ぐ to いで. Examples: 書く→書いて (Meaning: to write) 嗅ぐ→嗅いで (Meaning: to smell) |
| ○ぬ、○ぶ、○む | change ぬ/ぶ/む to んで. Examples: 死ぬ→死んで (Meaning: to die) 呼ぶ→呼んで (Meaning: to call) 読む→読んで (Meaning: to read) |
| xx-す | change す to して. Examples: 押す→押して (Meaning: to press) 話す→話して (Meaning: to talk) 壊す→壊して (Meaning: to break) |
| 行く(the only exception) | 行く→行って (Meaning: to go) |
type-two verb & type-three verb & irregular verb
| Verb Type | How to convert? |
| type-two verb | Change る to て. Examples: 食べる→食べて (Meaning: to eat) 降りる→降りて (Meaning: to get down) 起きる→起きて (Meaning: to wake up) |
| type-three verb | Change する to して. Examples: 勉強する→勉強して (Meaning: to learn) 結婚する→結婚して (Meaning: to marry) 連絡する→連絡して (Meaning: to come through) |
| irregular verb | する → して (Meaning: to do) 来る → 来て (Meaning: to come) |
Negative Te Form:
If you want to convert Te Form to Negative Te Form, you can convert the verb to Negative Form, and add で in the end.
Examples:
会って→会わないで
食べて→食べないで
勉強して→勉強しないで
Example Sentences:
| Japanese | English |
| ドアを開けて。 | Please open the door. |
| お昼を食べて。 | Please have lunch. |
| 数学を勉強して。 | Please learn math. |
| 学校に行かないで。 | Please don’t go to school. |
| 本を読まないで。 | Please don’t read books. |
Below is a nice song to help you remember Te Form.
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18 thoughts on “Te Form”
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Is there a way to remember which verbs are which て form, or is it just a memorization thing?
You can classify the pattern by the hiragana in the end of the verb.If the verb is xx-う，like 会う（あう)，買（か）うthen the Te form should be 会って，買って.
ありがとうございます！
You are welcome!
How is Polite Form different from Te Form? I mean, isnt Te form quite “polite” too? (“please”)
I answered your question below the table of this lesson. You can refer it, if you have further questions, just let me know.
Ah it takes time but I think I got the idea. I will take a look at Imperative Form later and refer to this again I guess.
ドアを開けてください。Does this also work?
ドアを開けていただけませんか。And isn’t ません negative form?
ドアを開けてください ✓
ドアを開けていただけませんか。you see か in the end, so it’s a question. question＋negative=positive.
You made a mistake with the number of the parts.
In the section about the u-verbs, there are 5 cases (1st: u-verbs ending with う, つ, る; 2nd: u-verbs ending with く, ぐ; 3rd: u-verbs ending with ぬ, ぶ, む; 4th: u-verbs ending with す; 5th: exception) altogether, including the exception. You marked the second case (u-verbs ending with く, ぐ) as #1 again.
I corrected it already! Thanks for the info! （Because I just copied the similar part to save time）
So, what’s the real difference between the verbal form て and the question with てください??? is one more polite than the other or what?
Thanks in advance!!
oh, I find it easy. It’s similar to the past tense.
Yes!
Found a nice song to help us remember 😀 : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cj-P-nEPoe0
Added the video to the lesson already! Nice video!
Is it correct to say 本 を よまないで です か。As in “Do you not read books?”
It should be 本を読まないですか