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Japanese LearNING
Te-form(て形/te-kei)
by
Accura
Sep 7, 2010
Japanese verbs have several conjugated forms and the main topic of this session is a conjugation called the "te-form".
Te-forms are very important part of Japanese grammar. Among their various uses
we will learn
to use them in:
making requests (". . . , please.")
giving and asking for permission ("You may . . . / May I . . .")
stating that something is forbidden ("You must not . . .")
forming a sentence that describes two or more events or activities. ("I did this and did that and so on.")
However, you need to conjugate verbs to the te-form from other forms.
Please don't worry.
First, you should know that Japanese verbs are divided into three classes according to their conjugations as below:
Regular 1
Regular 2
Irregular
OMG! I know you may be so nervous that you'd have to memorize all of these complicated rules and apply it to all verbs.
Don't worry, I can show you an easy way starting with taking a look of this anime clip.
These are the translations of each phrase as below;
むすんで/musunde
: tighten palms
ひらいて/hiraite
: open palms
てをうって/te o utte
: clap hands (て means hands)
むすんで/musunde
: tighten palms
また ひらいて/mata hiraite : open palms again (また/mata means "once again")
てをうって/te o utte : clap hands
その てを うえに/sono te o ue ni : raise those hands up
むすんで/musunde : tighten palms
ひらいて/hiraite : open palms
てをうって/te o utte : clap hands
むすんで/musunde : tighten palms
また ひらいて/mata hiraite : open palms again
てをうって/te o utte : clap hands
その てを したに/sono te o shita ni : hold those hands down
Okay, once you become familier with the melody,
change the underlined lyric part to below;
Te-from song (click here to listen to the song
)
い、
ち
、り、
って
/i,
chi
, ri,
tte
み、
び
、に
、
んで
/mi,
bi
, ni,
nde
き
、
いて
/
ki
,
ite
ぎ、
いで
/gi,
ide
し、
して
/shi,
shite
(
You can find the above lyric as a chart here)
Alright, I'll explain more details of how to use this song to master the conjugation of
regular 1 verbs
to the "te-form".
The first verb "
むすんで/musunde",
It's the te-form of むすびます/musubi-masu, means to tighten.
Ok, let's focus the syllable immediate before the ます/masu in the masu-form.
むす
び
ます/musu
bi
-masu
We have
び
/
bi
as I highlighted in
red
.
Then in the chart we have
んで
/
-nde
with
び
/
bi
.
So
び
/
bi
will be replaced to
んで
/
-nde
.
As the result, the te-from of
むす
び
ます/musu
bi
-masu
will be むす
んで
/musu
nde
In the same way based on the chart, other verbs' masu-forms and te-forms in the song will be;
ひら
き
ます/ hira
ki
-masu → ひら
いて
/ hira
ite
う
ち
ます/ u
chi
-masu
→
う
って
/ u
tte
Just follow the same highlighted colors in above verbs.
い、
ち
、り、
って
/i,
chi
, ri,
tte
み、
び
、に、
んで
/mi,
bi
, ni,
nde
き
、
いて
/
ki
,
ite
ぎ、
いで
/gi,
ide
し、
して
/shi,
shite
Got it?
Now, let's talk about
Regular 2
verbs.
It's much easier than
regular 1 verbs
.
You just replace "ます/masu" part of
masu-form to "て/te".
For example, the verb "たべ
ます
/tabe-
masu
" which means to eat.
Again, you remove
"ます/masu" part
first, then replace it to
"て/te"
.
たべ
ます
/tabe-
masu
→
たべ
ます
/tabe-
masu
→ たべ
て
/ tabe
te
Here, we have "たべて/ tabete" as the
te-form of
"たべ
ます
/tabe-
masu
"
.
Okay, let's talk about
Irregular verbs
at the end.
There are only 2 irregular verbs.
きます/ ki-masu, which means to come.
します/ shi-masu, which means to do.
And their conjugations are;
きます/ ki-masu → きて/ kite
します/ shi-masu → して/ shite
They're simple, aren't they?
Alright, I hope you feel much better about the
te-form now.
See you soon ^^/
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Te-form(て形/te-kei)
by Accura
Sep 7, 2010