Adjective Te-Form in Japanese: How to Link with くて and で

The adjective te-form in Japanese is the connective shape that lets two qualities sit in one sentence. An い-adjective swaps its final い for くて (大きい → 大きくて), and a な-adjective attaches で directly to its base (静か → 静かで).¹²³⁴⁵ At JLPT N5, it answers a question that adjective conjugation tables often defer: how do you string two adjectives together, since と does not connect adjectival predicates the way it connects nouns?¹⁶⁷

Overview

Two adjectives describing the same noun cannot simply sit side by side. Japanese marks the connection on the first adjective and leaves the second in whatever shape the sentence position demands. The connector is くて for い-adjectives and で for な-adjectives. Together, they form one paradigm seen from the two sides of the い / な class split.¹⁸⁹⁴

Where this article sits in the adjectives map

The two productive adjective classes are introduced in the sibling article Japanese Adjectives Overview: The Two Classes (い-形容詞 vs な-形容詞); the full inflection tables for each class live in い-Adjective Conjugation in Japanese: All Tenses and Forms and な-Adjective Conjugation in Japanese: All Tenses and Forms.¹²¹⁰ The te-form is one cell in each of those tables, and this article zooms in on that cell.

The verb counterpart is covered by The Te-Form in Japanese: Construction Rules and The Te-Form in Japanese: Uses (Linking, Cause, Light Imperative, Continuation).¹⁴¹¹ The adjective te-form runs parallel to the verb te-form for linking and cause. However, it does not take the auxiliary inventory (〜ている, 〜てある, 〜てしまう, 〜てください, 〜てもいい, 〜てはいけない) that attaches to verb te-forms.¹⁴¹¹

The one-sentence rule

An い-adjective becomes its te-form by replacing the final い with くて. A な-adjective becomes its te-form by attaching で directly to the base. The resulting form does not end a sentence. It connects to whatever comes next: another adjective, a verb, or a clause.¹²³⁴⁵

The default reading is "and" (two qualities side by side); a "because / so" reading surfaces when the second clause is a feeling, an evaluation, or an inability whose trigger is the first.⁶³⁴¹²

大おおきくて新あたらしい家いえです。¹³
"It is a big and new house."

静しずかで便利べんりな部屋へやです。⁹
"It is a quiet and convenient room."

寒さむくて、外そとに出でたくない。¹²
"It is cold, so I do not want to go outside."

Why と does not work between adjectives

と is the connector for nouns (りんごとみかん, "apples and oranges"), not for adjectival predicates.¹⁶⁷ Two い-adjectives joined by と (✗ 大きいとあたらしい) is ungrammatical as a "big and new" predication; the adjective system uses its own connector.⁶⁷

大おおきくて新あたらしい家いえ。¹³
"A big and new house."

りんごとみかんを買かった。¹
"I bought apples and tangerines."

The split mirrors the verb side: verbs do not join with と either, and a verb chain uses the verb te-form. The と / くて / で distribution shows the noun-vs-predicate split in the connector inventory. The と Particle: With, And, Quote covers the noun-side connector this contrasts with.¹⁴¹¹

Formation

い-adjectives: drop い, add くて

Remove the final い and attach くて: 大きい → 大きくて, 高い → 高くて, おいしい → おいしくて.¹²³⁴⁵ The くて suffix breaks down into the く-stem, the same stem that appears in the adverbial form 大きく ("greatly") and in the negative 大きくない, plus the conjunctive て that the verb side also uses.¹¹⁴¹⁵ This form is one row in the full table covered by the sibling article "い-Adjective Conjugation in Japanese: All Tenses and Forms".

Historically, the く-stem reflects the Old Japanese ク-adjective 連用形 (continuative form). That form served both the adverbial and conjunctive functions before the te-suffix attached.¹⁶¹⁴¹⁷

Dictionary	く-stem	Te-form
大おおきい	大おおきく	大おおきくて
高たかい	高たかく	高たかくて
おいしい	おいしく	おいしくて
安やすい	安やすく	安やすくて

高たかくて買かえない。¹²
"It is expensive, so I cannot buy it."

このケーキは安やすくておいしいです。¹³
"This cake is cheap and delicious."

The いい / 良い irregular: よくて, not いくて

いい / 良い is the one irregular い-adjective in modern standard Japanese. Its present-affirmative form is いい, but every non-present form is built on the older stem よ-: past よかった, negative よくない, adverbial よく, and te-form よくて.^21418419 Therefore, the te-form is よくて, not the regular-pattern ✗ いくて.⁴

Compounds built on いい (かっこいい "cool, good-looking"; 気持ちいい "feels good") inherit the same irregularity: かっこいい → かっこよくて, 気持ちいい → 気持ちよくて.¹⁸¹⁹ The full paradigm and the historical 良し → 良い merger are the topic of the sibling article The いい / 良い Irregular: Why the Past Is よかった.

このコーヒーはよくておいしい。⁴
"This coffee is good and delicious."

天気てんきがよくて、散歩さんぽした。⁴
"The weather was nice, so I took a walk."

彼かれはかっこよくて優やさしい。¹⁹
"He is good-looking and kind."

な-adjectives: base + で

Attach で directly to the bare base, not to the attributive な: 静か → 静かで, 元気 → 元気で, 便利 → 便利で.^1103945 The で here is the te-form of the copula だ, not the で particle that marks means or location of action. Bunpro states the identity directly ("で is actually a form of だ that is used for conjugation"), and Nishiyama (1999) gives the same analysis from a linguistic-theory angle.⁸⁹

The な that appears in 静かな部屋 is the attributive form of the same copula paradigm; the で is its conjunctive sibling. If you already understand な as the attributive form of だ, you can treat で as its linking form.¹¹⁵⁸¹⁸ Attributive vs. Predicative Adjectives in Japanese: Why 静か Needs な But 大きい Does Not maps the position-by-position copula paradigm. The Japanese Copula: です, だ, である Explained gives the full picture.

Dictionary base	Attributive	Te-form
静しずか	静しずかな	静しずかで
元気げんき	元気げんきな	元気げんきで
便利べんり	便利べんりな	便利べんりで
きれい	きれいな	きれいで

田中たなかさんはきれいで親切しんせつです。¹³
"Ms. Tanaka is pretty and kind."

このアプリは便利べんりで使つかいやすい。⁹
"This app is convenient and easy to use."

Why な-adjective で is the same word as noun で

A noun predicate takes the same で to link onto a following predicate. The で in 学生で、日本人です ("is a student, and is Japanese") is the te-form of だ, doing the same conjunctive job it does for な-adjectives.⁸⁹⁵ Genki I uses exactly this cross-class chain as its anchor example for the linker.²⁵

The identity is not a coincidence. な-adjectives and noun predicates share the copula's full inflectional paradigm (だ / な / で / だった / ではない); the te-form is one cell in that shared paradigm.¹¹⁵⁸

The diagram shows why な-adjectives and noun predicates share で: both feed into the same copula paradigm. In that paradigm, で is the conjunctive cell.¹⁸⁹

山下やました先生せんせいは日本人にほんじんで、四十歳よんじゅっさいぐらいです。²
"Prof. Yamashita is Japanese and about forty years old."

彼かれは学生がくせいで、アルバイトもしている。⁹
"He is a student and also has a part-time job."

父ちちは教師きょうしで、母ははは医者いしゃです。⁹
"My father is a teacher and my mother is a doctor."

The split between な-adjectives and noun predicates surfaces elsewhere in the grammar, but the te-form cell is shared. Na-Adjective vs. Noun in Japanese: The Blurred Boundary covers the points where the two classes do split.

Negative te-form: なくて and ではなくて / じゃなくて

The negative te-form of an い-adjective is built by taking the predicative negative 〜くない and replacing its final い with くて: 大きくない → 大きくなくて, 高くない → 高くなくて, おいしくない → おいしくなくて.¹¹⁴⁷²⁰ Mechanically, this is the same drop-い-add-くて rule applied a second time, on the negative ない (which is itself an い-adjective).

The negative te-form of a な-adjective is built on the predicative negative ではない (formal) or じゃない (casual): 静かではない → 静かではなくて, 静かじゃない → 静かじゃなくて. This construction applies the い-adjective rule to ない: ない → なくて.¹⁷²⁰

Negative te-form tilts toward causation

The affirmative te-form has a listing default and a causal secondary reading. The negative te-form tilts the other way: 高くなくて, 静かではなくて, and similar forms most often read as "not X, and so …", with the causal link feeling tighter than in the affirmative pair.⁶¹²⁷

切符きっぷは高たかくなくて、買かいやすいです。²⁰
"The tickets are not expensive and easy to buy."

部屋へやが静しずかではなくて、集中しゅうちゅうできない。⁷
"The room is not quiet, so I cannot concentrate."

あの店みせは有名ゆうめいではなくて、安やすいです。²⁰
"That shop is not famous and is cheap."

Cross-class chains: い + な + noun in one breath

A single noun phrase or predicate can chain across classes by putting every word except the last in te-form. Non-final い-adjectives appear as 〜くて, and non-final な-adjectives and nouns appear as 〜で. The final word takes the form its sentence position demands: attributive な before a noun, predicative だ or です at the end of a clause, adverbial く before a verb.¹²¹⁰⁵

The final な-adjective in a noun-modifying chain reverts to its attributive な (親切で元気な人, "a kind and energetic person"); the chain only uses で on the non-final な-adjectives.¹¹⁰⁹ This is the workhorse pattern for self-introductions, restaurant reviews, and any descriptive sentence with more than two attributes.²¹⁰³⁹

安やすくておいしい料理りょうり。²
"Cheap and delicious food."

親切しんせつで元気げんきな人ひと。⁹
"A kind and energetic person."

あのホテルは安やすくて静しずかで便利べんりだ。⁹
"That hotel is cheap, quiet, and convenient."

The Three Uses

Use 1: Listing two qualities ("and")

The default reading of an adjective te-form link is listing: two qualities hold of the same noun or topic, joined by te-form, and read as a neutral "X and Y".¹²³⁴⁵ The listing reading appears when the two qualities are independent (neither one explains the other) and the content is descriptive rather than evaluative.³⁴

Japanese, like English, tends to put the shorter or more subjective quality first (大きくて新しい rather than 新しくて大きい). But the order is a stylistic tendency, not a grammatical constraint, and reversing it does not change the grammar.⁶

大おおきくて新あたらしい家いえ。¹³
"A big and new house."

静しずかで便利べんりな部屋へや。⁹
"A quiet and convenient room."

あの先生せんせいは親切しんせつで優やさしい。¹⁰
"That teacher is kind and gentle."

Use 2: Causal ("because / so")

A 〜くて / で link reads as cause when the second clause is a feeling, an evaluation, a state, or an inability triggered by the first clause.¹⁶⁴¹² Acceptable result types include emotional predicates (嬉しい, 悲しい, 困る), potential negatives (見えません, できません), and stative predicates (ある, いる).¹²

Learn Japanese Adventure formulates the constraint directly: results "are limited to those words which do not contain volition or intention."¹² Iori et al. and Makino & Tsutsui use the same volitionality diagnostic: a result clause that names a deliberate, controllable action breaks the causal reading and requires an explicit connector instead.¹⁶¹²

Deliberate actions need から, not the te-form

✗ 寒さむくてセーターを着きた is ungrammatical with the causal reading, because putting on a sweater is a deliberate action. The well-formed version uses から: 寒さむいから、セーターを着きた, "Because it was cold, I put on a sweater."⁶¹² The から Particle: From (Source and Reason) covers the explicit-cause connector.

Compared to から and ので, the te-form's causal reading is softer and more implicit. The te-form does not assert "because". It places the two clauses side by side and invites the listener to infer the link.⁶⁴¹²

寒さむくて、外そとに出でたくない。¹²
"It is cold, so I do not want to go outside."

心配しんぱいで眠ねむれない。¹²
"I am worried and cannot sleep."

難むずかしくて分わからない。⁶
"It is difficult and I do not understand."

暑あつくてたまらない。⁶
"It is so hot I cannot stand it."

Use 3: Descriptive sequence (chaining three or more)

Three or more attributes can be stacked into one description by putting each non-final word in te-form. The reading is listing by default, not a causal chain; the te-form simply acts like a comma between qualities.¹²¹⁰³⁵ The pattern works inside a noun phrase (modifying a head noun) and inside a predicate (modifying a topic). The rule is the same in both places: every non-final element in te-form, and the final element in whatever form its position demands.²¹⁰⁹

小ちいさくて安やすくておいしい店みせ。¹³
"A small, cheap, and delicious shop."

静しずかで広ひろくてきれいな部屋へや。⁹
"A quiet, spacious, and clean room."

あのレストランは安やすくて静しずかで便利べんりだ。⁹
"That restaurant is cheap, quiet, and convenient."

At N5 this is the workhorse pattern for self-introductions and any descriptive sentence with more than two attributes; Genki I and Minna no Nihongo introduce it in the same chapter as the simple two-element link.²¹⁰

くて / で vs から: when each is the right tool

くて / で is a soft "and / so" with a non-volitional limit on the result clause and no register marking. から is an explicit "because" with no constraint on the result clause and free choice of action verbs.¹⁶⁴¹² The practical rule is simple: use the te-form when the result is a feeling, a state, an inability, or an evaluation and the causal link is clear from context. Use から when the result is a deliberate action or the speaker wants to make the causal link explicit.¹²

Connector	Result clause	Causal force	Sequential timing
くて / で	Feeling, state, inability, evaluation only	Soft, implicit	Te-clause must precede the result
から	Anything, including deliberate actions and commands	Explicit "because"	No timing constraint

寒さむくて出でたくない。¹²
"It is cold and I do not want to go out."

寒さむいから、セーターを着きた。¹²
"Because it was cold, I put on a sweater."

危あぶないから、触さわらないでください。¹²
"It is dangerous, so please do not touch."

The same listing-vs-causal split shows up on the verb side. "The Te-Form in Japanese: Uses (Linking, Cause, Light Imperative, Continuation)" covers it for verbs, and "The から Particle: From (Source and Reason)" covers the dedicated causal connector.

Nuance and Usage Contexts

Same-polarity constraint

Two adjectives joined by te-form normally share polarity: either both affirmative (大きくて新しい) or both negative (大きくなくて新しくない). Mixing polarity inside a plain te-form chain is ungrammatical: ✗ 大きくて新しくない does not work as "big but not new."⁶¹³⁷

The constraint is semantic rather than strictly syntactic: a te-form chain expresses one internally consistent description, and contradictory qualities clash with that shape. Learn Japanese Adventure puts it as "The 2 connected Japanese adjectives must not be of contradictory notion."¹³ To mix polarity or contrast valence, use an explicit contrastive connector (が, けど, でも).⁶¹³

大おおきいけど新あたらしくない。⁶
"It is big but not new."

おいしいけど高たかい。¹³
"It is delicious but expensive."

大おおきくなくて新あたらしくない。⁷
"It is not big and not new."

The constraint extends from polarity to evaluative orientation: even two affirmative adjectives can clash if one is positively valenced and one negatively valenced relative to the noun being described. The fix is the same contrastive connector.¹³

Non-final constraint: くて / で cannot end a sentence

The adjective te-form is a clause-internal connector. It does not end a sentence on its own; the sentence needs a continuation (another adjective, a verb, or a noun + copula).¹⁴⁷ My Language Classes states the rule directly: "These forms are for connecting two or more phrases. You cannot end a sentence with くて or で."⁷

One discourse-pragmatic exception applies: a くて or で left dangling at the end of a turn, with rising intonation or ellipsis dots in writing (静かで……), invites the listener to finish the thought or signals that the speaker has more to say. This is the same trailing-て pattern the verb te-form uses. It is a discourse move, not a grammatical sentence-ender.⁴⁷

この部屋へやは静しずかで便利べんりだ。⁹
"This room is quiet and convenient."

この部屋へやは静しずかで気きに入いった。⁹
"This room is quiet, so I took a liking to it."

静しずかで……。⁴
"It is quiet, and …"

Register, tense, and aspect ride on the final predicate

Politeness, tense, and polarity attach once to the sentence-final predicate, not to each adjective inside a te-form chain. The te-form itself is register-neutral and tenseless; the final form carries those layers for the whole chain.¹⁶¹⁴⁴

The polite form 大きくて新しいです is correct; ✗ 大きいですて新しいです and ✗ 大きくてですあたらしいです are not. The same holds for な-adjective chains: 静かで便利です, not ✗ 静かですで便利です.¹¹⁰⁹⁴ For tense, 大きくて新しかった ("it was big and new") puts past on the final adjective only, and the past scopes over the whole chain. 安くておいしくない ("cheap and not delicious") puts negative on the final adjective only.¹¹⁰⁶¹³

Politeness, tense, and aspect behave the same way because they all live on the final predicate. The same constraint that bars mixed polarity inside a chain lets a single final form carry the inflection for the whole sequence.¹⁶

Layer attached to the final predicate	Example	Chain reading
Politeness (です / ます)	大きくて新しいです	"big and new" (polite)
Past tense	大きくて新しかった	"was big and new"
Negative on the final adjective	安くておいしくない	"cheap and not delicious"
Past copula on a な-adjective	静かで便利だった	"was quiet and convenient"

大おおきくて新あたらしいです。²
"It is big and new."

静しずかで便利べんりです。¹⁰
"It is quiet and convenient."

大おおきくて新あたらしかった。⁶
"It was big and new."

静しずかで便利べんりだった。¹⁰
"It was quiet and convenient."

Polite vs. Plain Japanese: です/ます vs. だ (丁寧体・普通体) covers the politeness layer in detail.

で is not the で particle

The な-adjective / noun で is the te-form of the copula. It is not the で particle that marks means of action (バスで行く, "go by bus") or location of an action (公園で遊ぶ, "play at the park").⁸¹⁸⁹ The two surface as the same kana but come from different parts of the grammar.

A morpho-syntactic diagnostic, that is, a form-and-sentence-structure test, distinguishes them. The copula で sits between two predicate-like halves and reads as "and / so". The particle で sits between a noun phrase and a verb and reads as "by means of" or "at".⁸¹⁸

The two homophones split by syntactic environment, so the diagnostic is a structural test, not a vocabulary lookup.⁸¹⁸ The で Particle: Means and Location of Action covers the particle side in detail.

静しずかで便利べんりな部屋へや。⁹
"A quiet and convenient room."

バスで行いく。¹⁸
"Go by bus."

公園こうえんで遊あそぶ。¹⁸
"Play at the park."

Good to know

Using verb-side て on an い-adjective (大きいて)

い-adjectives drop the final い before attaching the て extension. The form is built on the く-stem, not on the dictionary form.⁶³⁴ The mistake comes from over-generalising the verb-side rule that attaches て directly to the verb stem.

大おおきくて新あたらしい。⁶³⁴
"Big and new."

Attaching で to the attributive な instead of the base (静かなで)

な-adjectives attach で directly to the bare base.¹⁸⁹ The な is the attributive form that only appears before a noun (静かな部屋). The で is the te-form of the same copula paradigm, and it attaches to the base, not to な.

静しずかで便利べんり。¹⁸⁹
"Quiet and convenient."

Producing いくて instead of the irregular よくて

いい / 良い uses the よ-stem in every non-present form (past よかった, negative よくない, te-form よくて, adverbial よく). Therefore, the te-form is よくて, parallel to the past and the negative, and the regular-pattern いくて is wrong.²⁴¹⁹

よくておいしい。⁴
"Good and delicious."

Connecting adjectives with と

と is the connector for nouns, not for adjectival predicates. The form 大きいとあたらしい家 is wrong as a "big and new house" predication; the adjective system uses its own connector, くて / で, exactly as the verb system has the verb te-form.¹⁶⁷

大おおきくて新あたらしい家いえ。¹⁶⁷
"A big and new house."

Using くて / で for a deliberate-action consequence

The te-form's causal reading is restricted to non-volitional results: feelings, states, inabilities, and evaluations. The sentence 寒くてセーターを着た is wrong with the causal reading because putting on a sweater is a deliberate action; deliberate consequences need an explicit causal connector (から or ので).⁶¹²

寒さむいから、セーターを着きた。¹²
"Because it was cold, I put on a sweater."

Two slots, two channels: て and で as one paradigm

The Japanese linker inventory has exactly two slots. They map cleanly onto the language's two-way split between self-inflecting predicates (verbs and い-adjectives) and copula-predicating ones (nouns and な-adjectives).¹¹⁵⁸⁴ て is the conjunctive form of words that inflect on themselves: for verbs, it is built on the verb stem (食べる → 食べて), and for い-adjectives, it is built on the く-stem (大きい → 大きくて). で is the conjunctive form of the copula: for nouns, it is the te-form of だ (学生だ → 学生で), and for な-adjectives, it is the te-form of the same copula (静かだ → 静かで).

Once you hear て and で as one paradigm with two channels, the formation rules across all four word classes stop feeling like separate facts. They start feeling like one system. The same diagnostic that sorts the language into "verbs and い-adjectives" vs "nouns and な-adjectives" sorts the linker too.¹⁸⁴

Why the causal reading is restricted to feelings and inabilities

The te-form expresses a connection that is implicit, not asserted. It places two clauses side by side and lets the listener infer "and so …" from context, rather than having the speaker explicitly claim a causal link.¹⁶⁴¹² That implicit connection works smoothly for spontaneous, uncontrolled reactions (a feeling, a state, an inability). It breaks down for deliberate, controlled actions, where the speaker's reasoning needs to be made explicit. That is the work から and ので do.⁶¹²

The same restriction shows up on the verb side, and the same volitionality diagnostic sorts both cases. "The Te-Form in Japanese: Uses (Linking, Cause, Light Imperative, Continuation)" covers the verb-side parallel.¹⁶¹²

What this article does not cover (and where to go for it)

This article covers the adjective te-form in its linking and causal uses inside a single sentence. The auxiliary te-form inventory that attaches to the verb te-form (〜ている, 〜てある, 〜ておく, 〜てしまう, 〜てみる, 〜ていく, 〜てくる, 〜てください, 〜てもいい, 〜てはいけない) lives entirely on the verb side. None of those auxiliaries attach to くて or で. The adjective te-form stays inside the linking-and-causation role.¹⁴¹¹

This is a property of the auxiliary inventory itself: the helpers (いる, ある, おく, しまう, みる, いく, くる) are verbs that take a preceding verb te-form, not a preceding adjective te-form.¹⁴ "The Te-Form in Japanese: Uses (Linking, Cause, Light Imperative, Continuation)" covers the verb side.

See also

• ～ないで vs ～なくて: When to Use Which Negative Te-Form
• The Nai-Form (ない形): Plain Negative of Japanese Verbs
• Compound Adjectives in Japanese (複合形容詞): The V-Stem + Adjective Pattern
• The Japanese Verb Stem (連用形): The Masu-Stem and Its Uses

References

Footnotes

1. Makino, Seiichi, and Michio Tsutsui. A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar. The Japan Times, 1986. ISBN 978-4-7890-0454-1. Entries on the te-form, 〜くて, the i-adjective predicate, the na-adjective predicate, です, and だ (pp. 96–98, 247–250, 100–102, 425–428, 521–523). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷ ↩¹⁸ ↩¹⁹ ↩²⁰ ↩²¹ ↩²² ↩²³ ↩²⁴ ↩²⁵ ↩²⁶ ↩²⁷ ↩²⁸ ↩²⁹ ↩³⁰ ↩³¹ ↩³² ↩³³ ↩³⁴ ↩³⁵ ↩³⁶ ↩³⁷ ↩³⁸ ↩³⁹ ↩⁴⁰

2. Banno, Eri, et al. Genki I: An Integrated Course in Elementary Japanese, 3rd edition. The Japan Times, 2020. ISBN 978-4-7890-1730-5. Lesson 5 (i-adjective and na-adjective polite present, attributive forms, the いい irregular), Lesson 7 (te-form of adjectives, 〜くて linking and reason use, the cross-class chain), Lesson 8 (short forms and past, with よかった for いい). Grammar index: https://wp.stolaf.edu/japanese/grammar-index/genki-i-ii-grammar-index/ ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶

3. Bunpro. "Adjective + て + B (JLPT N5)." https://bunpro.jp/grammar_points/adjective-%E3%81%A6-b (limitation: language-learning publisher; used for JLPT N5 placement of the adjective te-form linker, the three readings (linking / reasons / manner), the よくて irregular note, and confirmation example sentences). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹

4. Tofugu. "Te Form: Connecting words and clauses in Japanese." https://www.tofugu.com/japanese-grammar/te-form/ (limitation: language-learning publisher; used for the adjective sub-section, the よくて irregular ("the stem form of いい is よ, so its て form is よくて"), the "and / so" semantic split, and the framing that for な-adjectives "you simply add で, which is the て form of だ"). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷ ↩¹⁸ ↩¹⁹ ↩²⁰ ↩²¹ ↩²² ↩²³ ↩²⁴ ↩²⁵ ↩²⁶ ↩²⁷ ↩²⁸ ↩²⁹ ↩³⁰ ↩³¹ ↩³²

5. The Japan Times. "Adjective + て / で." St. Olaf College Genki I/II Grammar Index: "te-form joining sentences (Genki I Chapter 7)." https://wp.stolaf.edu/japanese/grammar-index/genki-i-ii-grammar-index/te-form-joining-sentences-genki-i-chapter-7/ (used for the Genki Chapter 7 formulation: "The てform of an いadjective is formed by substituting くて for the final い," "The てform of a なadjective and a noun+です is formed by adding で to the base or the noun," and the anchor examples 安くておいしいです and にほんじんで、よんじゅっさいぐらいです). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹

6. 庵功雄・松岡弘・中西久実子 ほか (Iori, Isao, et al.). 『初級を教える人のための日本語文法ハンドブック』(A Handbook of Japanese Grammar Patterns for Teachers of Beginning-Level Japanese). スリーエーネットワーク, 2000. ISBN 978-4-88319-148-0. Chapters on い-形容詞 and な-形容詞 predicates, the te-form connective (sequence, cause, manner), and the volitionality constraint on the cause reading. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷ ↩¹⁸ ↩¹⁹ ↩²⁰ ↩²¹ ↩²² ↩²³ ↩²⁴ ↩²⁵ ↩²⁶ ↩²⁷ ↩²⁸

7. My Language Classes. "〜くて／〜で (Connecting adjectives/verbs) in Japanese." https://mylanguageclasses.in/connecting-adjectives-and-verbs-in-japanese-kute-de/ (limitation: language-learning publisher; used for the explicit non-final constraint ("These forms are for connecting two or more phrases. You cannot end a sentence with くて or で"), the negative chain 〜くなくて, and the framing of くて / で as one paired system). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴

8. Nishiyama, Kunio. "Adjectives and the Copulas in Japanese." Journal of East Asian Linguistics, vol. 8, no. 3, 1999, pp. 183–222. https://www.jstor.org/stable/20100762. Argues for the analysis of な-adjective で as the te-form of the copula, parallel to noun + で. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³

9. Bunpro. "Adjective + て・Noun + で (JLPT N5)." https://bunpro.jp/grammar_points/adjective-%E3%81%A6-noun-%E3%81%A7 (limitation: language-learning publisher; used for the explicit framing that で is "a form of だ that is used for conjugation," and that な-adjective で and noun で are structurally parallel). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷ ↩¹⁸ ↩¹⁹ ↩²⁰ ↩²¹ ↩²² ↩²³ ↩²⁴

10. 3A Corporation. 『みんなの日本語 初級I 第2版』(Minna no Nihongo Shokyū I, 2nd ed.). スリーエーネットワーク, 2012. ISBN 978-4-88319-603-4. Lesson 8 (い-形容詞 and な-形容詞 present polite, attributive), Lesson 12 (past and negative polite), Lesson 16 (the て-form of adjectives, 〜くて and で linking and reason use). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³

11. Bunpro. "Verb + て + B (JLPT N5)." https://bunpro.jp/grammar_points/verb-%E3%81%A6-b (limitation: language-learning publisher; used for the verb-side te-form linker that the adjective form runs parallel to, and for the sequence / cause range that the cross-class chains inherit). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

12. Learn Japanese Adventure. "te-form (て-form) for Cause or Reason." https://www.learn-japanese-adventure.com/te-form-cause-reason.html (limitation: language-learning publisher; used for the explicit volitionality constraint on the cause reading: results "are limited to those words which do not contain volition or intention," and the explicit contrast with から for volitional / commanded results). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷ ↩¹⁸ ↩¹⁹ ↩²⁰ ↩²¹ ↩²²

13. Learn Japanese Adventure. "Connecting 2 Japanese Adjectives." https://www.learn-japanese-adventure.com/japanese-adjectives-2.html (limitation: language-learning publisher; used for the semantic-compatibility / same-polarity constraint on くて-linked adjectives ("The 2 connected Japanese adjectives must not be of contradictory notion") and confirmation example sentences). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹²

14. Martin, Samuel E. A Reference Grammar of Japanese. Yale University Press, 1975 (reprinted University of Hawaiʻi Press, 2003). Sections on adjective inflection, the adverbial / continuative 〜く, the 〜くて conjunctive, the いい / よい alternation, and ない as the negative of ある. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

15. Tsujimura, Natsuko. An Introduction to Japanese Linguistics, 3rd ed. Wiley-Blackwell, 2014. Chapters on word classes, predicates, and the i-adjective and na-adjective inflectional paradigms. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

16. Frellesvig, Bjarke. A History of the Japanese Language. Cambridge University Press, 2010. ISBN 978-0-521-65320-6. Sections on Old Japanese ク-adjective conjugation (the 良し / よき / よけれ paradigm), the kari-katsuyō contraction (-ku + ari), and the Late Middle Japanese shūshikei / rentaikei merger. ↩

17. Shibatani, Masayoshi. The Languages of Japan. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge Language Surveys, 1990. ISBN 978-0-521-36918-3. Sections on adjective classes, the i-adjective inflectional paradigm, and the historical -shi → -i terminal-form sound change. ↩

18. 松村明 (編). 『大辞林 第三版』. 三省堂, 2006. ISBN 978-4-385-13905-0. Entries 「形容詞」「形容動詞」「い」「いい」「よい」「だ」「で」「です」. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸

19. Wikipedia contributors. "Japanese adjectives." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_adjectives (limitation: open-source encyclopedia; used as a cross-check on the い / な class split and the irregular いい / 良い paradigm). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

20. The Japanese Page. "JLPT N5 Grammar: て te Form in Japanese." https://www.thejapanesepage.com/jlpt-n5-grammar-%E3%81%A6-te-form-in-japanese/ (limitation: language-learning publisher; used for the negative te-form examples 高くなくて and 有名ではなくて, and the confirmation sentence 切符は高くなくて、買いやすいです). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴