TE FORM – MUST KNOW JAPANESE GRAMMAR!!!!!!!
So what is TE form?
– Doesn’t TE て 手 mean “hands”?
– Yep, but it’s nothing to do with hands here unfortunately…
Anyways…”TE form” plays a huge role in Japanese.
すごく大切 sugoku taisetsu!!!! – SUPER IMPORTANT!!
The very common usage is
- As a request
見て “mite” – Look!
*not imperative*Put ください, which means “please give me”
after TE form, and it’s formal.
見てください ”miTE kudasai” – Please look.
- As a “is/are ~being (now)
/ has been ~ing (for some time)
Te form + いる見ている “mite-iru”
– is/are watching (now) / has been watchingたべている “tabeTE-iru”
– am / is / are / have been eating (now)Te form + いた (past tense of いる)
-> WAS doing ~ / Used to ~食べていた “tabeTE-iTA”
I was eating. / I used to eat.
- As a momentary verb (status)
Te form + いる
出来ている “dekiTE-iru”
– It’s (been) done. (status)結婚している “kekkon shiTE-iru”
– to be married (status)ドアが開いている “doa ga aiTE-iru”
The door is open. (status)
- As a sequence (do that first, then do this…)
テレビを見て、寝る。 “terebi wo miTE, neru.”
I (will) watch TV, and then sleep.*You cannot use と in-between verbs, because と only connects NOUNS.
E.g いぬとねこ inu TO neko – Dogs and cats
- As a past tense
Change TE into TA or DE* into DA.
見て “miTE” -> 見た “miTA”. – I watched.*見ます miMASU -> 見ました miMASHITA
is the formal past tense.
*Why DE? You will see what verbs will take DE in this post. *
And more…!
But first, let’s learn :
How to make TE form
For -iru/eru ending verbs, such as :
- いる
IRU to exist / there is someone - 見る みる
mIRU – to watch/ look / see - 食べる たべる
tabERU – to eat - 起きる おきる
okIRU – to wake up - 寝る ねる
nERU – to sleep - 忘れる わすれる
wasurERU – to forget
Just get rid of “る” and change to “て“.
☆ いる “iru”->
いて “iTE” Be / stay (somewhere) <as a request>
いて -> いた “was (somewhere)” <past tense>
Someone / living thing がいる (GA iru)
There is ~.
*Use ある aru for non-living things.
E.g 誰かがいた dare-ka ga ita. – There was someone.
☆ 見る みる “m-iru” ->
見て “m-iTE” Look!
みて miTE -> みた miTA – looked
みている miteIRU watching (now)
-> みていた miteITA was watching
E.g 昔よくアニメを見ていた mukashi yoku anime wo mite-ita.
– I used to watch anime often a long time ago.
☆食べる たべる “tab-eru” ->
食べて tabeTE – Eat!
たべて tabeTE -> たべた tabeTA – ate
たべている eating
-> たべていた was eating
E.g
まだ食べている。
Mada tabete-iru
– I’m still eating.
☆起きる おきる ->
おきて wake up!
おきた – woke up
おきている to be awake
-> おきていた was awake
E.g
まだ起きているの? Mada okite-iru no?
– Are you still up (awake)?
☆寝る ねる ->
ねて Sleep!
ねた – slept
ねている sleeping
ねていた was sleeping
E.g
ごめん、その時はもう寝ていた。
Gomen, sono toki wa mou nete-ita.
– Sorry, I was already asleep at that time.
☆忘れる わすれる ->
わすれて Forget!
わすれた – forgot
わすれている ??
Usually we say “おぼえていない oboete-inai”
– I don’t remember
E.g
電気を消すのを忘れた。
Denki wo kesu no wo wasureta.
I forgot to turn off the light.
☆覚える おぼえる oboERU – to memorize
おぼえて Memorize!
おぼえた – memorized
おぼえている – I remember (state)
<-> おぼえていない I don’t remember
-> おぼえていた I remembered until ~, but now I forgot.
E.g 「Hello」という言葉を覚えた。
“harroo” toiu kotoba wo oboeta.
I memorized the word “Hello”.
*Put という (=called / named / “~”) only when you say the specific name / word.
Usually just <noun>をおぼえる = to memorize <noun>
*Be careful, おぼえて and おぼえた mean “memorize(d)”, not “remembered = recalled”.
If you want to say that you recalled something, (like you forgot but then recalled),
Use the verb 思い出す omoidasu = to recall.
思う omou means “to think” and 出す dasu means “to take ~ out”.
おもいだした! Omoida-shita! = I recalled!
おもいだせない omoida-senai = I cannot recall.
E.g あの人の顔を思い出せない。
Ano hito no kao wo omoidasenai.
– I cannot remember (recall) the face of the person / how s/he looks like.
☆かける kakERU – to call
電話をかける denwa wo kakeru “to call”
Someone にでんわをかける – to call (to) someone
でんわをかけて – Call me
でんわをかけた – called
でんわをかけている – calling
でんわをかけていた – was calling
E.g
今はちょっと忙しいから、後でまた電話をかけて。
Ima wa chotto isogashii kara, atode mata denwa wo kakete,
– I’m a bit busy at the moment, so call me again later.
♪Practice 練習 れんしゅう renshuu
- ______________に______ – I was in Japan two weeks ago.
- _____! ____________________. – Look! There is a cat over there.
- _____________________. – I am watching TV.
- _____________________. – I was watching a movie last night.
- おとうさんが___________とき、ニュースを_________.
– I was watching the news, when my dad called me. - きゅうりがすきじゃないから、わたしのきゅうりも_________.
– I don’t like cucumbers, so eat my cucumber, too?
- ___________________、おなかがいっぱい。- I ate a lot, so I’m full.
- もう8じ(hachi-ji)だよ!__________. – It’s 8 o’clock already! Wake up!
- ____________________________________. I woke up at 9 today.
- ___________________________. – I slept a lot.
- ____________________________. – The children are already asleep.
- __________を_____________. – I forgot the new word. * word = たんご
- _________________________. – I memorized new words.
- あのひとの___________________________.
– I don’t remember that person’s (his/her) name. - ________、____________に________________.
– Yesterday (,) I called my friend.
*I’ve written ている and ていた form the way it is supposed to be this time,
But in real life, we say てる and てた without い in informal speech.
Trust me, it’s not wrong and that makes you sound more natural.
For formal speech, you can still omit い like ています and てました,
If it’s not too formal.
But for things like business meetings, only stick to”ています and ていました”.
When you said you can omit the い in formal speech and gave the following example “ています”, isn’t the い still there
ます is used for formal speech so usually い is not omitted like ています. (Though there are different levels of formality so you could say てます in formal speech but slightly casual. Like talking to a neighbour doesn’t need to be so formal but not casual, then てます would be good. But not really acceptable in written language.)
Because of that picture :D, I am distracted and did not understand anything at all on this topic :D. I wish I had a teacher like her :).
Misa,
I just stumbled across your blog a few days ago and it has been so helpful! I am from the U.S. and am living in Japan as a missionary and an international school middle-high school teacher. I have been trying to learn Japanese by myself and recently with the help of a Japanese tutor, and your website has been so helpful. Thank you so much and please keep it up!
Sincerely,
Laura