Te form in Japanese

To create the te form from a dictionary form, follow these rules:

• For ru verbs, drop the final るru and add て te.
• For u verbs that end in すsu, change the final syllable to して shite.
• For u verbs that end in くku, change the final syllable to いて ite; for u verbs that end in
• ぐ gu, change the final syllable to いで ide.
• For u verbs that end in う(w)u, る ru, or つ tsu, change these final syllables to って tte.
• For u verbs that end in む mu, ぬ nu, or ぶ bu, change these final syllables to んで nde.
• Keep in mind that the verb いく iku is slightly irregular, and its te form is いって itte.
• The te forms of the irregular verbs する suru and くる kuru are して shite and きて kite.

The following table shows examples of these rules:

	Ending	Dictionary Form	Te Form
Ru verbs	-eる -eru	かえる kaeru (change)	かえて kaete
	-iる -iru	きるkiru (wear)	きて kite
U verbs	-す -su	はなす hanasu (speak)	はなして hanashite
	-く -ku	かく kaku (write)	かいて kaite
	-く -ku (exception)	いく iku (go)	いって itte
	-ぐ -gu	およぐ oyogu (swim)	およいで oyoide
	-む -mu	よむ yomu (read)	よんで yonde
	-ぬ -nu	しぬ shinu (die)	しんで shinde
	-ぶ -bu	とぶ tobu (jump)	とんで tonde
	う -(w)u	かう kau (buy)	かって katte
	-る -ru	きる kiru (cut)	きって kitte
	-つ -tsu	まつ matsu (wait)	まって matte
Irregular verbs		くる kuru (come)	きて kite
		する suru (do)	して shite

Reference:

Sato, E., 2014. Complete Japanese Grammar. New York: McGraw-Hill, pp.41-42.