Verb[て] - Grammar Discussion

Present Tense

Structure

  • [る-Verbs] →
  • [う-Verbs: す] → して
  • [う-Verbs: く] → いて
  • [う-Verbs: ぐ]→
  • [う-Verbs: う・つ・る] → って
  • [う-Verbs: む・ぬ・ぶ] →
  • Irregular Verbs [する] → して

:warning: いく→いって, する→して

View on Bunpro

1 Like

How does the structure table fit with the example for “いく→いって” which is correct, yet if I follow the table: [う-Verbs: く]-> いて seems like I would end up with “いく→いて”
Maybe I am misunderstanding this structure table somehow… or this is an exception?
Thanks!

1 Like

Never mind… I think I understand that the “Warning” symbol is telling me that these are exceptions. I like this warning symbol (in the Grammar Discussion) better than the finger pointing on the main review page. It is more clear to me that these are exceptions… something I did not realize before. User error!

1 Like

I agree that the warning sign is better that the finger.


Also, I don’t see why the で would be orange instead of yellow since it’s part of the primary construction of the grammar.

1 Like

@seanblue @barclayaz
I have changed the structure to be more understandable (including :warning: suggestion). :+1:

It doesn’t seem to say what the actual use of the て form is.

2 Likes

て form has a lot of usages. :sweat_smile:

Hey :smile:

Basically, a verb in て form + Phrase means: “verb and Phrase”. In other words, it connects sentences.
AてB can be also used to state reason/cause A for the B. But it is MUCH weaker than から or ので.

Like @seanblue says, て form has many uses and this lesson was more about conjugation than the uses.
I will try to add another lesson with example sentences and more explanations.

:bowing_man:

1 Like

ah okay,
thanks for the answer

1 Like

In a sentence like this:
撮影は3か月かけて行われました。

How to exactly describe the function of the て form? Does it mean “The photo shooting took 3 months and has been carried out”? Or “…took 3 months to be finished”?
How to translate 行う here?
And would the sentence also be correct using the intransitive かかる instead of the transitive かける?

1 Like

Hey, you can use both:
撮影は3か月かけて行われました。

撮影は3か月かかって行われました。

They will differ a bit in nuance, the former would mean that you planned it to take 3 months. The later would mean that you didn’t expect it to take that much time, sort of negative nuance.

It took three months to finish the movie.

2 Likes

Thanks for the explanation!

So the て form has a function like “in order to” rather than “and” in that sentence?

Another example:
彼は日本を代表して会議に出た。

How to translate the て form here?

  1. He represented Japan and attended the conference
  2. He attended the conference and represented Japan
  3. He represented Japan at a conference
  4. In order to represent Japan he attended the conference

I don’t really get the sequence/order of things connected with て

If it’s the “and” meaning it has to be in order. So I don’t think sentence #2 is valid. Sentence #1 would be correct in that case.

But sometimes て form can translate like an adverb. I’d probably translate the sentence to “he attended the conference as a representative from Japan”.

2 Likes

Thanks, the adverbial function makes indeed sense in this sentence/translation.

2 Likes

Is it me or does Bunpro not explicitly teach the negative form of て, ie. なくて?
It just forms parts of other grammar points, and also, reviews for other items use it and assume I know it, eg/

(Please ignore that こと became こた in my answer there as well >_< )

1 Like

You are actually right!

I have added it to the to do list right now!

Thank you!

2 Likes

I dont understand the first two lines of the ‘meaning’ page:

V(る1) → 見 → 見

V(る5) → 座 →座 って

What do the “1” and the “5” mean?

There’s a link to the structure legend below the structure:

https://bunpro.jp/structure_legend

There you can find all explanations with examples for the abbreviations.

There is a lot of information in this review point (13 associations, more associations than there are levels). Shouldn’t this really be 13 different grammar points? The problem I encounter is getting a review for one association (say V(る1) → 見 → 見 ), and then the next review is for a totally different association (say する→して), and then quite often failing it. I see that by doing this, eventually all of the associations I don’t know will be added to ghost reviews, however they don’t get trained through all of the SRS levels individually, weakening the retention of the info (also making it a frustrating experience).

1 Like

Honestly, I think conjugations are best learned outside of Bunpro. I think Kitsun has a nice deck on conjugations.

https://kitsun.io/store/detail/5cb36c68eb68123c400f0168

2 Likes