て

Derived in the Heian period from writing the man'yōgana kanji 天 in the cursive sōsho style.

• IPA^(key): [te̞]

て (romaji te)

1. The hiragana syllable て (te). Its equivalent in katakana is テ (te). It is the nineteenth syllable in the gojūon order; its position is た行え段 (ta-gyō e-dan, “row ta, section e”).

• で (de)

• (Hiragana) 平仮名; あぁ, いぃ, うぅゔ, えぇ, おぉ, かゕが, きぎ, くぐ, けゖげ, こご, さざ, しじ, すず, せぜ, そぞ, ただ, ちぢ, つっづ, てで, とど, な, に, ぬ, ね, の, はばぱ, ひびぴ, ふぶぷ, へべぺ, ほぼぽ, ま, み, む, め, も, やゃ, ゆゅ, よょ, ら, り, る, れ, ろ, わゎ, ゐ, ゑ, を, ん, ー, ゝ, ゞ, ゟ

From the ren'yōkei of the classical auxiliary verb つ (tsu).

• IPA^(key): [te̞]

て (rōmaji te)

1. A conjunctive particle, attaching to the ren'yōkei of verbs and adjectives. When attached to godan verbs, onbin sound changes may occur, sometimes changing the particle into で (-de).
   1. Simply indicates actions or states that occur simultaneously.

      大 (おお)きくて甘 (あま)いリンゴ

      ōkikute amai ringo

      a big, sweet apple

      姉 (あね)がピアノを弾 (ひ)いて妹 (いもうと)が歌 (うた)を歌 (うた)う。

      Ane ga piano o hiite imōto ga uta o utau.

      The elder sister plays piano and the younger sister sings songs.

   2. Indicates actions or states that occur successively.

      家 (いえ)に帰 (かえ)って、テレビを見 (み)た。

      Ie ni kaette, terebi o mita.

      I went back home and watched TV.

   3. Indicates reason or cause.

      風邪 (かぜ)を引 (ひ)いて、学校 (がっこう)を休 (やす)んだ。

      Kaze o hiite, gakkō o yasunda.

      I didn't go to school because I caught a cold.

   4. Used as a contrastive conjunction.

      見 (み)て見 (み)ぬふり ― mite minu furi ― saw but pretended not to see → turn a blind eye

      知 (し)っていて教 (おし)えない

      shitte ite oshienai

      to know something but not to tell it

   5. Indicates method or state.

      喜 (よろこ)んで一日 (いちにち)を過 (す)ごした。

      Yorokonde ichinichi o sugoshita.

      I spend the day happily.

   6. Followed by hojodōshi (subsidiary verbs, corresponding to auxiliary verbs in western languages) such as いる (iru), ある (aru), やる (yaru), くれる (kureru), あげる (ageru), もらう (morau), おく (oku), くる (kuru), いく (iku), etc., to make their complement.

      日本語 (にほんご)を勉強 (べんきょう)している。

      Nihongo o benkyō shite iru.

      I'm learning Japanese.

      机 (つくえ)の上 (うえ)に置 (お)いてある。

      Tsukue no ue ni oite aru.

      It's put on the desk.

   7. Used in the form …て…て (… te … te) to show emphasis or repetition.
   8. ては (-te wa) and ても (-te mo) make conditional clauses.
2. A sentence-final particle, derived from the conjunctive particle above. Attaches to verbs and adjectives in the same way, and usually takes the form って when attaching to adjectives. Considered quite feminine.
   1. Used to seek opinion or ask a question.

      もうご覧 (らん)になって？

      Mō goran ni natte?

      Have you seen it?

      よろしくって？

      Yoroshikutte?

      Is it OK?

   2. Indicates the speaker's opinion or judgment. Usually followed by よ (yo).

      お手紙 (てがみ)ちょうだいね。待 (ま)っててよ

      O-tegami chōdai ne. Matte te yo

      Please send me a letter. I'm waiting.

   3. Short for てください (-te kudasai) or てくれ (-te kure): makes a light command or request. Usually followed by よ (yo) or ね (ne).

      助 (たす)けて！

      Tasukete!

      Help!

      ちょっと待 (ま)って

      chotto matte

      Wait a minute.

3. Alternative form of the case, binding or sentence-final particle って (tte), used after the /ɴ/ sound.

   こまちゃんて言 (い)うな――!!

   Koma-chan te iuna――!!

   Don't call me Koma-chan!

• When the て (te) indicates method or state, ない (nai) + て (te) becomes ないで (naide) instead of the regular なくて (nakute):

  ご飯 (はん)を食 (た)べなくて出 (で)た ― gohan o tabenakute deta ― I didn't eat and I went out.

  ご飯 (はん)を食 (た)べないで出 (で)た ― gohan o tabenaide deta ― I went out without eating.

• In formal writing, て (te) is not used when simply indicating a series of actions or states. Instead, the ren'yōkei is used for all but the last action or state, and いる (iru) (which becomes い (i)) is replaced by おり (ori).

  姉 (あね)がピアノを弾 (ひ)き、妹 (いもうと)が歌 (うた)を歌 (うた)う。 ― ane ga piano o hiki, imōto ga uta o utau. ― (formal) The elder sister plays piano and the younger sister sings songs.

• In the western analysis of Japanese grammar, “て (te)” is not a particle but a suffix, and “ren'yōkei + て (te)” is usually called the gerund, a term used for subordinate adverbial verb forms in the description of many languages such as Dutch, Italian and Russian. For Japanese this nomenclature is found first in the works of Portuguese missionaries such as the Arte da Lingoa de Iapam[1] and continues to be used to this day. In Japanese materials adopting the western analysis of Japanese grammar, this form is simply called the テ形 (-te kei, “-te form”).