Japanese Te-Form Chart and Rules

The te-form chart

Find the word's ending in the first column, and the next two give you its te-form and its ta-form. The examples show each rule at work, and the last column counts how many of the 884 words in our Japanese conjugation tables follow that row.

Print this chart

Print the chart on A4 or US Letter, or choose Save as PDF in the print dialog to keep a copy. It fits on one page, with the negative te-form, the test for る-verbs and the main uses under the table.

Among the verbs, the って row and the る-verb row tie at 166 words each, and す → して comes next with 88. 死ぬ is the only verb in our list that ends in ぬ. The る-verb row holds one more word than the 165 ichidan verbs in the verb groups guide, because that guide counts くれる with the irregular verbs. Its te-form, くれて, is regular, so here it sits on the る-verb row. Add 問う, the one word that fits no row, and the chart covers all 884 words: 577 verbs and 307 adjectives.

How to make the te-form, step by step

Every te-form conjugation starts from the dictionary form.

1. Work out the word's type: る-verb, う-verb, irregular verb, い-adjective or な-adjective. Verbs ending in る can go either way, and the next section has the test.
2. For a る-verb, drop る and add て. 食べる (taberu) becomes 食べて (tabete), and 見る (miru) becomes 見て (mite). There are no sound changes to learn.
3. For an う-verb, change the last kana by the chart. 買う → 買って, 飲む → 飲んで, 書く → 書いて, 泳ぐ → 泳いで, 話す → 話して. Grammars call the っ, ん and い changes onbin (音便).
4. Check the exceptions. 行く becomes 行って, する becomes して, and 来る becomes 来て, read きて (kite).
5. For an adjective, change the ending. An い-adjective drops い and adds くて (高い → 高くて), and a な-adjective adds で (静か → 静かで). いい becomes よくて.

For a verb's ta-form, follow the same steps and end in た or だ instead: 食べた, 飲んだ, 行った.

Is it a る-verb or an う-verb ending in る?

A verb that ends in る can follow either of two rows, and the dictionary form won't always tell you which. Every る-verb (ichidan) ends in -iru or -eru and takes て straight after the stem. But 20 う-verbs (godan) in our list end in -iru or -eru too, and they take って. Four of them are beginner words: 知る (shiru, to know), 帰る (kaeru, to go home), 入る (hairu, to enter) and 走る (hashiru, to run). Treat 帰る as a る-verb and you'd write 帰て, when the te-form is 帰って.

The test is the plain negative. An a-sound before ない means an う-verb: 帰らない (kaeranai), so 帰って. An i or e sound means a る-verb: 食べない (tabenai) gives 食べて, and 起きない (okinai) gives 起きて.

Two verbs read kiru show why the test is worth a few seconds. 着る (to wear) is a る-verb, so its te-form is 着て. 切る (to cut) is an う-verb, so its te-form is 切って. Other う-verbs that look like る-verbs include 限る, 握る, 減る, 裏切る, 振り返る and 持ち帰る. The Japanese verb groups guide explains the groups in full.

The te-form exceptions

A handful of words need learning on their own.

• 行く (iku, to go). It ends in く, so the く row would give 行いて, but its te-form is 行って (itte) and its ta-form 行った (itta). That's why the chart gives it a row of its own.
• する (suru, to do). する becomes して, and so does every noun + する verb: 勉強する (benkyou suru, to study) becomes 勉強して. The する row has 75 words in our list, する and 74 noun + する verbs.
• 来る (kuru, to come). The te-form keeps the kanji but changes the reading. 来て is read きて (kite), and the ta-form 来た is read きた (kita).
• いい (ii, good). Its te-form is よくて (yokute), not いくて, and its ta-form is よかった. It conjugates from よい, an older form of the same word. 気持ちいい does the same and becomes 気持ちよくて.
• ある (aru, to be, for things). Its te-form is regular, あって, on the る → って row. Its negative is just ない, though, so its negative te-form is なくて.
• 問う (tou, to ask, formal). It's the one word in our list on no row: its te-form keeps the う, 問うて, not 問って. It's rare, so it can wait.

The polite verbs hold no surprises here. くださる, いらっしゃる and おっしゃる follow the る → って row (くださって, いらっしゃって, おっしゃって), and くれる gives くれて like any る-verb.

Te-form of adjectives and nouns

Adjectives have a te-form too, and it joins a description to what comes next.

An い-adjective drops its い and adds くて: 高い (takai) becomes 高くて, and 楽しい (tanoshii) becomes 楽しくて. In our list, 179 い-adjectives follow that row. The other two are いい and 気持ちいい, which give よくて and 気持ちよくて.

The te-form of a な-adjective adds で, and the word itself doesn't change: 静か (shizuka) becomes 静かで, and 元気 (genki) becomes 元気で. Nouns work the same way, so 学生 (gakusei, student) becomes 学生で. Our list has 126 な-adjectives and no nouns, so the chart's count covers the adjectives only.

The negative te-form: ないで or なくて

A verb has two negative te-forms, and both start from the plain negative. Change ない to ないで or なくて: 飲まない (nomanai) gives 飲まないで or 飲まなくて, 食べない gives 食べないで or 食べなくて, しない gives しないで or しなくて, and 来ない (konai) gives 来ないで or 来なくて.

Each has its own uses.

• ないで means “without doing”: 傘を持たないで出かけました。 (I went out without an umbrella.) It's also the form in “please don't”: 忘れないでください。 (Please don't forget.)
• なくて gives a reason or a cause: 宿題がわからなくて、困りました。 (I didn't understand the homework, so I was stuck.) It's also the form in なくてもいい, “don't have to”: 明日は来なくてもいいです。 (You don't have to come tomorrow.)

Adjectives and nouns take only なくて: 高くなくて, and 静かじゃなくて or 静かではなくて. この店はあまり高くなくて、おいしいです。 (This restaurant isn't very expensive, and the food is good.)

Te-form vs ta-form

The ta-form, the plain past, follows the te-form exactly: て becomes た and で becomes だ. 飲んで gives 飲んだ, 書いて gives 書いた, 泳いで gives 泳いだ, 話して gives 話した and 食べて gives 食べた. The exceptions carry over too: 行って becomes 行った, して becomes した, and 来て becomes 来た (きた). Learn a verb's te-form and you have its past as well. In casual speech the ta-form ends the sentence: 昨日、友達と映画を見た。 (Yesterday I saw a movie with a friend.)

Adjectives break the pattern. 高い gives 高くて but 高かった, 静か gives 静かで but 静かだった, and いい gives よくて but よかった.

What the te-form is used for

The te-form does two kinds of work. With another word after it, it builds patterns such as 〜ている and 〜てください, and on its own it joins actions and descriptions into one sentence. Here is one example of each use.

• 〜ている, an action going on: 田中さんは今、本を読んでいます。 (Tanaka-san is reading a book now.)
• 〜ている, a state: 東京に住んでいます。 (I live in Tokyo.)
• 〜てください, a request: この漢字の読み方を教えてください。 (Please tell me how to read this kanji.)
• 〜てもいい, permission: ここで写真を撮ってもいいですか。 (May I take photos here?)
• 〜てはいけない, “must not”: 教室で食べてはいけません。 (You must not eat in the classroom.)
• 〜てから, “after”: 宿題をしてから、テレビを見ます。 (I watch TV after I do my homework.)
• Joining actions: 朝起きて、シャワーを浴びます。 (I get up in the morning and take a shower.)
• Joining い-adjectives: このかばんは軽くて、丈夫です。 (This bag is light and sturdy.)
• な-adjective + で: にぎやかで、楽しい町です。 (It's a lively, fun town.)
• Noun + で: 兄は会社員で、弟は学生です。 (My older brother is an office worker, and my younger brother is a student.)

〜てください is a polite request or instruction, the kind a teacher, a shop clerk or a friend uses. To ask a favor of a stranger, 〜てくださいませんか sounds softer.

Practice the te-form

A chart gives you the rules, but writing 行って and 泳いで without stopping to think takes practice. The Japanese te-form quiz asks for the te-form, the ta-form or the negative te-form of the words you pick, and after every answer it names the rule in one line. To work on paper, the te-form worksheets print five exercises with an answer key, from sorting verbs by ending to joining two sentences. In the sorting exercise, 行く goes in the って column, and that's the point.

Frequently asked questions

Licenses and credits

Verbs, adjectives and their meanings come from JMdict, the property of the Electronic Dictionary Research and Development Group, used in conformance with the Group's licence. The forms are built by the standard rules, with the irregular ones written out.

The example sentences are written for NexaProva and were reviewed for natural Japanese.