The te form is one of those topics that so many Japanese learners never get past. It involves some funky table, or a song, and it can’t really be translated into English. It ends up being the graveyard for many a Japanese learner.
To spoil the ending, I never really learnt the te form through any of the techniques that were presented to me through my various Japanese classes and living in Japan.
I was also not making the te form correctly even after passing JLPT 三級, (was it 三級? It was way back in 2003 so I can’t remember anymore, but I don’t think I went for 四級) which flawed as the test may be, certainly attempts to test whether you understand the te form.
I distinctly remember getting corrected on a te form (embarrassingly I still didn’t know the difference between している and しっている) in 2008 or 2009, a full five(!) years after my ten months in Japan and after graduating with 90% in my high school Japanese program.
Just so you know, the mistake I made was I was trying to write that I loved someone「愛している」but ended up typing「愛しっている」, which is nonsensical but I guess means ‘I know love!’. Not quite the same. But I do remember thinking, ‘why do I still not understand this basic thing?’.
At least I didn’t leave it up as a status on a messenger program for weeks until someone pointed it out to me (I did do that, probably it was up for months).
The te form is a topic I do spend a bit of time with a lot of my students on, and I’m yet to really find a good way of teaching it.
Even when I think I’ve condensed it down so that it is not some massive topic, I can ask a student a few weeks later to make some te forms and they can’t do it, or I see them misusing it in some written work.
Also, I’m a Japanese teacher so you can contact me for lessons via the information at the bottom of this post.
So what should be done about this? Well, the te form is definitely a memorization exercise. There is really no way around it. If you’re not willing to learn at least 13 separate words, as in my video above, I think you’re going to have a very hard time getting your head around the topic (let alone the rest of Japanese).
And the 13 words is just covering the verbs, and then only the positives, so you’re not even done with it at that point.
So for example, the above picture is one that I mocked up recently to help my students, and it basically contains every te form you’ll need to know: the all-important verbs, and then also nouns, adjectives and all negatives.
So how can you use this to learn? You’ll need to write out all the words in the first column: たべる・はなす・かく and so on. Then, leave it for a day or two, and then try and write the te forms next to each. Check against the table, or better yet have someone check it for you.
You’ll also want to find a Japanese language partner, and have a go at practicing these. This is vital, as the addition of a っ or other vowel changes can be hard to hear as a JSL speaker, but a Japanese person (or someone like me) can point out that you’re pronouncing them wrong.
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