connective N5 essential casualpolitewritten

て — Use the て-Form to Join Ideas

て

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Builds on て形

Meaning

…and then / …-ing / and so — now that you can make the て-form, use it to join one idea to the next

Key sentence

朝あさ起おきて、コーヒーを飲のむ。

I get up in the morning and drink coffee.

Formation

Attaches to	Form	Example
Verb / adjective	put the word in its て-form, then continue (see て形 for the sound changes)	食たべる → 食たべて、…

When: You already learned how to make the て-form. Here, it carries no tense or politeness of its own; the final clause sets both for the whole sentence.

Examples

駅えきまで歩あるいて、電車でんしゃに乗のった。

I walked to the station and got on the train.

sequence of actions

ニュースを聞きいて、驚おどろいた。

I heard the news and was surprised.

cause

歩あるいて学校がっこうに行いく。

I go to school on foot.

means / manner

この部屋へやは広ひろくて明あかるい。

This room is spacious and bright.

linking adjectives

When you can't use it

Only the final verb shows tense. 昨日きのう、起おきてご飯はんを食たべた is all past even though 起おきて looks tenseless — don't try to past-mark the て-clause (×起おきたて).

Easily confused with

て形て形 is how you build the form (the う→って, む→んで sound changes); this page is what joining clauses with it means. 〜てから Plain て leaves the order loose; 〜てから stresses 'only after X, then Y' as a deliberate sequence (食たべてから vs 食たべて).

See て in real sentences

Jengo shows て the way you actually meet it: inside real Japanese sentences, so it sticks instead of staying an abstract rule.

Study it in Jengo

Sources Compiled with reference to A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar.

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