Probably the first barrier for beginner Japanese language learners would be conjugating verbs into te-form.
But if you master te-form, there are so many things you can say in Japanese.
So today I will explain about te-form conjugation and tell you some tips to remember the rule!
You might already know that there are three groups of Japanese verbs.
Group Ⅰ – “u” verb
All the verbs that are not categorized as GroupⅡ or GroupⅢ.
Group Ⅱ – “ru” verb
Verbs whose dictionary forms end with i-ru or e-ru.
Group Ⅲ – irregular verb
Kuru(come) or Suru(do).
Conjugation of GroupⅡ(Ru verb) into te-form is pretty simple.
All you need is remove ru and replace it with te.
Examples of ru verbs or GroupⅡ are;
| Dictionary form | Te form |
|---|---|
| おきる（okiru / wake up） | → おきて（okite） |
| きる（kiru / wear） | → きて(kite) |
| たべる（taberu / eat） | → たべて(tabete) |
| みる（miru / watch, see） | → みて(mite) |
| わける（wakeru / seperate） | → わけて(wakete) |
Now what’s confusing is u verbs because depending on consonants before “u”, the conjugation changes.
That’s why a lot of students feel overwhelmed with remembering the rules.
u verbs end with either of these sounds below;
う(u)・つ(tsu)・る(ru)・む(mu)・ぶ(bu)・ぬ(nu)・く(ku)・ぐ(gu)・す(su)
- verbs that end with u, tsu, ru becomes “tte” when conjugating to te-form.
- verbs that end with mu, bu, nu becomes “nde”
- ku becomes “ite”
- gu becomes “ide”
- su becomes “shite”
One exception is いく（iku / go）.
Although it ends with ku, it doesn’t become “iite”, but it actually becomes “itte”, so this is the irregular one among “u” verbs.
As for the groupⅢ verbs (irregular verbs), you just need to memorize them because there are only two, which are;
くる（kuru / come）and する（suru / do）.
Kuru becomes kite, and suru becomes shite.
| Dictionary form | Te form |
|---|---|
| う(u)・つ(tsu)・る(ru) いう（iu / say） まつ(matsu / wait) とまる (tomaru / stop) | って（tte） いって(itte) まって(matte) とまって(tomatte) |
| む(mu)・ぶ(bu)・ぬ(nu) すむ（sumu / live） あそぶ（asobu / play） しぬ（shinu / die） | んで(nde) すんで（sunde） あそんで(asonde) しんで(shinde) |
| く(ku) かく（kaku / write） きく（kiku / listen） | いて(ite) かいて（kaite） きいて（kiite） |
| ぐ(gu) およぐ(oyogu / swim) いそぐ（isogu / hurry） | いで(ide) およいで（oyoide） いそいで（isoide） |
| す(su) はなす(hanasu / speak) おす(osu / push) | して(site) はなして（hanashite） おして（oshite） |
| くる(kuru / come) | きて(kite) |
| する(suru / do) | して(shite) |
| いく(iku / go) | いって(itte) |
To make it a bit easier for you, I’d like to introduce “utsurutte” song.
Let’s memorize the rules by singing a famous Christmas song, “Santa Clause is coming to town”!
Hope you all have a happy Christmas holiday!
メリークリスマス！
