Japanese Grammar – て- form of verbs

Japanese Grammar – て- Form of Verbs – Review Notes

Today we learned about the て- form (te-form) of Japanese verbs! This form has many uses and is a very important grammar point.

In these video review notes we will go over today’s Japanese grammar in greater detail and learn some additional information.

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Today’s Grammar Lesson:

★　Today we will learn about the て-form (te-form) of Japanese verbs.

★　て-form (te-form) by itself does not have a tense (past, present, etc.)

★　There are many, many ways to use て-form (te-form).

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How to make て-form:

★　If you already learned how to make the past tense of the plain form of verbs, AKA た-form (ta-form), it is very easy to make the て-form (te-form).

★　To make て-form from た-form, just change た (ta) to て (te) or だ (da) to で (de)

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Examples – Changing た-form to て-form

★　The past tense of the verb 見る (miru) – “to see”, “to look”, or “to watch” – is 見た (mita)

★　The て-formis 見て (mite)

★　The past tense of the verb 言う (iu) – “to say” – is 言った (itta)

★　The て-formis 言って (itte)

★　The past tense of the verb 聞く (kiku) – “to listen” or “to hear” – is 聞いた (kiita)

★　The て-formis 聞いて (kiite)

★　The past tense of the verb 読む (yomu) – “to read” – is 読んだ (yonda)

★　The て-formis 読んで (yonde)

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Watch Previous Video to learn た-form:

★　If you don’t know how to make た-form, learn about ithere!

★　If you don’t know anything about Japanese verbs, clickhere!

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How to Use て-form (te-form):

★　You can do many, many things with て-form (te-form).

★　Today, we will learn how to make requests in Japanese using て-form + ください (kudasai).

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Making Commands: Using て-form alone

★　If you use て-form alone (without kudasai), it is a command, not a request.

★　This is – at best – very casual, and – at worst – quite rude (depending on your tone of voice and who you are speaking to.)

★　The appropriateness of using て-form alone depends on the situation.

★　As an example, if you just say 見て！ (mite!) it means “look!”

★　Similar to adding the word “please” in English, adding ください (kudasai) softens the command, turning it into a request.

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Examples using ください (kudasai):

★　聞いてください (kiite kudasai) means “Please listen.”

★　見てください (mite kudasai) means “Please look.”

★　読んでください (yonde kudasai) means “Please read.”

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More Information about て-form +ください

★　て-form +ください is often used when giving instructions.

★　Although using て-form +ください is more formal than using て-form alone, it is not appropriate for all situations.

★　You should avoid using ください when speaking to social superiors.

★　A more formal word you can use instead of ください (kudasai) is くれますか？ (kuremasu ka?)

★　If you use くれますか？ (kuremasu ka?) it becomes a polite request which closely corresponds to “Would you please…?”

★　聞いてくれますか？ (Kiite kuremasu ka?) means “Would you please listen?”

★　読んでくれますか？ (Yonde kuremasu ka?) means “Would you please read?”

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Levels of Formality and Requests:

★　The Japanese language has a very complex structure of formality. There are often many ways to say the same thing in different situations.

★　The following table lists various ways of making requests with the most polite at the top using the verb 書く (kaku – to write) as an example.

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