connective N5 essential casualpolitewritten
て — connecting clauses (and, -ing, so)
て
Builds on て形
Meaning
- …and then / …-ing / and so — joins a clause to the next, expressing sequence, cause, means, or manner
Key sentence
朝起きて、コーヒーを飲む。
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) | 食べる → 食べて、… |
When: て carries no tense or politeness of its own — the final clause sets both for the whole sentence.
Examples
駅まで歩いて、電車に乗った。
I walked to the station and got on the train.
sequence of actions
ニュースを聞いて、驚いた。
I heard the news and was surprised.
cause
歩いて学校に行く。
I go to school on foot.
means / manner
この部屋は広くて明るい。
This room is spacious and bright.
linking adjectives
When you can't use it
- Only the final verb shows tense. 昨日、起きてご飯を食べた is all past even though 起きて looks tenseless — don't try to past-mark the て-clause (×起きたて).
Easily confused with
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 JengoSources Compiled with reference to A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar.