In this guide
I like the way the te form lets you reuse a familiar Japanese verb. It’s a version of the verb that ends in て or で and fits into several different sentence patterns. Once you can make it, the word you know for “eat” can become part of a request to eat, a description of eating now, or a sentence about eating breakfast and then doing something else.
That gives you two things to learn: how to change the verb’s ending, and how to build the sentence around it. I prefer to give each some attention. Different kinds of verbs follow different patterns, so making a te form takes more than adding て. And even when you’ve made it correctly, you still need to choose the words that turn it into the request or description you intended.
We’ll practise the ending changes first, then put them to work in sentences. You don’t need to know the verb groups already; we’ll introduce them as we go, beginning with the verb for “eat”.
Start with 食べる → 食べて
To make a te form, start with the dictionary form: the form you’d look up in a dictionary. 食べる means “eat,” 書く means “write,” and 飲む means “drink.” You change the ending of that form. You don’t simply put て after the whole word.
Japanese verbs follow different patterns when their endings change. 食べる and 見る belong to the ichidan group. For an ichidan verb, remove the final る and add て.
食べる becomes 食べて: keep 食べ, change る to て. 見る, “see” or “watch,” works the same way: remove る and you get 見て.
| Ichidan dictionary form | Te form |
|---|---|
| 食べる — eat | 食べて |
| 見る — see; watch | 見て |
That’s the whole ending change for this group. The catch is knowing the group in the first place: a verb ending in る isn’t automatically ichidan. We’ll deal with that after the other main pattern.
Try the ichidan change
借りる means “borrow” and is an ichidan verb. Type its te form. Kanji or all hiragana is fine.
借りる → ＿
For godan verbs, check the final kana
For a verb you know is godan, the last kana of its dictionary form tells you which change to make.
Take 書く, “write.” It’s godan, so replace the final く with いて: 書く → 書いて. For 飲む, “drink,” replace む with んで: 飲む → 飲んで. Keep the rest of the verb. The result may end in で rather than て, but it’s still called the te form and can do the same jobs.
| Godan ending | Replace it with | Example |
|---|---|---|
| う・つ・る | って | 会う → 会って — meet |
| む・ぶ・ぬ | んで | 飲む → 飲んで — drink |
| く | いて | 書く → 書いて — write |
| ぐ | いで | 泳ぐ → 泳いで — swim |
| す | して | 話す → 話して — speak |
The first two rows each cover several endings. 待つ, “wait,” follows the same row as 会う: remove つ and add って to make 待って. 遊ぶ, “play,” uses the む・ぶ・ぬ row, so it becomes 遊んで. Keep the small っ in って: 待って needs it.
I’d use the table while making a few real forms rather than try to recite all the rows first. Say the dictionary form, identify the last kana, and replace that kana. That gives you a way to check your answer when an ending doesn’t yet come to mind.
Check the godan endings
All four verbs are godan. 立つ means “stand.” Select every pair with a correct te form.
Which changes follow the godan patterns?
Check the る verbs, then learn three special cases
Every ichidan dictionary form ends in る, but plenty of godan verbs do too. An i or e sound just before る is a useful clue for ichidan: 見る has み before る, and 食べる has べ. It’s a clue, though, not a test that always works.
帰る, “go home,” is a common trap. It’s pronounced かえる, so the sound before る is e, but the verb is godan. Use the godan る → って change: 帰る → 帰って. These are worth learning with their groups:
| Dictionary form | Group | Te form |
|---|---|---|
| 帰る — go home | Godan | 帰って |
| 入る — enter | Godan | 入って |
| 知る — know | Godan | 知って |
| 切る — cut | Godan | 切って |
| 着る — wear | Ichidan | 着て |
切る and 着る are both pronounced きる. One becomes 切って; the other becomes 着て. Sound alone can’t settle that choice. When you learn a new verb, learn or look up its group too. A dictionary may label godan as “u-verb” or “Group 1,” and ichidan as “ru-verb” or “Group 2.”
する, 来る and 行く
The two irregular verbs have forms to learn directly: する, “do,” becomes して, and 来る, “come,” becomes 来て. Notice the reading change in 来る: くる → きて. Verbs built with する follow it, so 勉強する, “study,” becomes 勉強して.
行く, “go,” belongs to the godan group but has an exceptional te form: 行って. The usual く rule would lead you to 行いて, so keep 行く → 行って together as a pair. Once you’ve remembered that exception, you can use 行って in the same constructions as any other te form.
A る verb and an exception
You need the te forms of 着る (“wear”) and 行く (“go”). Choose the correct pair.
着る ／ 行く
Ask someone to do something with てください
Here’s a useful first job for the form you’ve made: ask the listener to do an action. Put ください after the te form. For “Please write your name,” start with 書く → 書いて, then add ください.
名前を書いてください。
Please write your name.
名前 means “name,” and を marks what to write. 書いて gives you the verb’s te form; ください makes the action request. A verb whose te form ends in で keeps that で: 読む, “read,” becomes 読んで, so “Please read” is 読んでください.
少し待ってください。
Please wait a little.
待つ becomes 待って, and 少し means “a little.” This is a polite, direct request or instruction, useful in everyday situations, though it isn’t the most deferential wording for every formal request. When you’re speaking casually with someone close, just 待って can be a request too: “Wait.” For favors that take someone’s time or change their plans, the guide to saying please in Japanese offers a softer way to ask.
Use another verb for a request
Lunch is ready. Ask someone to eat, using 食べる, the ichidan verb from the first section. Type just its te form + ください in the gap. Kanji or all hiragana is fine; the final punctuation is already printed.
＿。
Put actions in order, then finish the sentence
To connect actions in order, put the earlier action in the te form and finish with a complete verb. For a routine or plan, that final verb can stay in its dictionary form. Let’s keep the same person doing both actions. コーヒー (こーひー) means “coffee.”
朝ごはんを食べて、コーヒーを飲む。
I eat breakfast, then drink coffee.
食べる becomes 食べて because eating comes first. The final 飲む is a plain nonpast form: it covers a routine or a future plan. Add 毎朝, “every morning,” for a routine, or あした, “tomorrow,” for a plan. This is plain style, suitable for casual speech or a personal note.
Make the final verb past
For a past account, change just the final verb. Its plain past follows the te-form pattern: replace the last て with た, or the last で with だ. So 見て gives 見た (“saw”), and 飲んで gives 飲んだ (“drank”).
朝ごはんを食べて、コーヒーを飲んだ。
I ate breakfast, then drank coffee.
Keep the earlier 食べて as it was. The final 飲んだ makes this simple chain past and plain. With 飲む at the end instead, it would be nonpast. The final verb carries time and style; earlier te links don’t carry their own tense.
Finish a new past sequence
You ate breakfast first and then swam. 泳ぐ means “swim” and is godan. Type only its plain past form to finish the sentence. Kanji or all hiragana is fine.
朝ごはんを食べて、＿。
The same change works with the special forms: して → した, 来て → 来た (きた), 行って → 行った.
Add いる: an action now, or a state now
Adding いる to a te form makes a separate construction: ている. The polite version uses います. 食べて + います becomes 食べています, and 読んで + います becomes 読んでいます. You keep the te form you already made, including its で when it has one.
Two useful meanings are an action in progress and a state that remains after an event. The verb and the situation help you choose the reading. Let’s look at each before trying to translate them the same way.
An action is in progress
Suppose someone asks what you’re doing, and you’re in the middle of reading a book. You want to describe the reading as it happens:
本を読んでいます。
I’m reading a book.
本 is the book, and 読んでいます describes the reading in progress. It doesn’t say that you’ve finished the book. The same idea works for breakfast: if you’re eating it right now, you can say いま、朝ごはんを食べています, “I’m eating breakfast now.” In these situations, English “am …ing” is a good match.
An event has left a state
Now imagine a window that opened earlier and is still open. You’re describing its current condition, not watching it move. Japanese can use ている for the state that remains after that opening:
窓が開いています。
The window is open.
開く means “open,” as in a window opening, and its reading is あく. It’s godan: 開く → 開いて → 開いています. In this scene, the opening has happened and the open state remains. が marks the window whose condition you’re describing. Translating this as “The window is opening” would change the picture.
You’ll find the same kind of meaning with a very different event. 結婚する means “get married.” A person describing their married status can say:
結婚しています。
I’m married.
The event is getting married; the state afterward is being married. This is where I stop translating ている automatically as “-ing.” The speaker is describing being married, rather than the act of getting married.
Reading is an activity you can be partway through. In the window and marriage scenes, a change has already happened and the resulting state remains. Start with the verb’s meaning, then check what’s true now. These are two useful readings of ている; the construction has other uses too.
What is true now?
The window opened earlier. It is still open and isn’t moving now. In this situation, what does the sentence describe?
窓が開いています。
Check the ending, then check the message
When a sentence doesn’t say what you want, it helps to check it twice. First, did you form the verb correctly? Then, did you choose the construction that expresses your intended meaning? Those are different problems, and changing the spelling won’t always solve the second one.
| What you wrote | What needs changing |
|---|---|
| 書きてください。 | Formation problem: 書く takes く → いて. Use 書いてください. |
| 食べています。 when you mean “Please eat.” | The form is correct, but this doesn’t ask the listener to eat. For that request, use 食べてください. |
| コーヒーを飲んで、朝ごはんを食べた。 when you ate breakfast first | The forms work, but this puts coffee first. Use 朝ごはんを食べて、コーヒーを飲んだ. |
I’d make the same two checks on an unfamiliar sentence: ending first, intended message second. Try it with a verb we first used for a request, but a situation that needs something else.
Same verb, a different job
Someone asks what you’re doing. You’re in the middle of writing your name. Choose the polite sentence that describes that action in progress.
What do you say about yourself?
Write a request or a short sequence
Choose one: ask someone to do an action with the te form + ください, or describe two things you did in order. For a past sequence, put the first action in the te form. Make the final verb’s plain past by using its te-form pattern and changing the last て to た or で to だ. Choose your own actions, and look up a verb’s group if needed. Note in English what you intend to say, then write the Japanese sentence.
Copy your Japanese text, then paste it into the checker. This writing space does not assess or save your text.
The checker can suggest grammar and spelling corrections. Compare any suggestion with the meaning you intended: a correctly formed sentence can still ask for the wrong thing or put events in the wrong order, and suggestions can be mistaken. Checking a sentence doesn’t save it for Study review.
For your next sentence, choose one job before changing the verb: asking someone to act, linking events, or describing what’s happening or what state holds now. You’ll reuse the same te forms, but the sentence you build around them will do the work you need.
About the author
B. Rungswell
B. Rungswell is the editor of the Bunpo Check blog and a native English speaker who has passed JLPT N1. Drawing on many years of life in Japan and experience working at Japanese companies, Rungswell writes practical guides to Japanese grammar for English-speaking learners.