The Te-Form in Japanese: Uses (Linking, Cause, Light Imperative, Continuation)

The Japanese te-form has a wide range of jobs: one short verb ending can link clauses, signal cause, soften a command, or host an auxiliary that adds aspect, direction, or benefit.^{1 2} Because one shape carries so many roles, the te-form is the workhorse non-finite form of the Japanese verb. It also makes any 〜て you meet in the wild briefly ambiguous. This article sorts those jobs so you can read any te-form with confidence. For the conjugation table that builds the form in the first place, see the sibling article "The Te-Form in Japanese: Construction Rules".

Overview

The te-form is a non-finite, tenseless, register-neutral connective.^{1 3 2} It carries no tense and no politeness of its own. Whatever predicate or auxiliary follows it supplies tense and politeness. A polite chain is polite because of its final ます or ください, not because of any 〜て in front.

The te-form is the suffix; the meaning sits next door

The 〜て itself does not "mean" sequence, cause, or politeness. Each reading of a te-form chain is decided by what comes after the 〜て: another clause (connective uses), nothing at all (the bare-て soft command), or a fixed helper verb (auxiliary uses).^{1 2}

One form, two families of jobs

Modern reference grammars sort the te-form's jobs into two families.^{1 2 4 5}

1. Bare-te connective uses. The 〜て joins two clauses with no auxiliary verb after it. The reading (sequence, cause, manner, contrast) comes from the meaning of the two clauses, not from any extra marker.
2. Auxiliary-verb uses. A small fixed set of helper verbs (いる, ある, おく, しまう, みる, いく, くる, あげる, くれる, もらう) attaches right after the 〜て. The helper carries the meaning (aspect, direction, benefit) and conjugates for tense and politeness. The 〜て is frozen.^{1 2}

Naming the two families up front prevents the common blur between unrelated uses. Once you identify the family, the reading follows.

The te-form connective is the most frequent clause-linking device in modern spoken and written Japanese. 〜ている is among the most frequent verb collocations in the Balanced Corpus of Contemporary Written Japanese.^{2 6 7} This is high-yield grammar, so it is worth sorting out.

Where this fits in JLPT progression

Learners meet the te-form very early, then add new constructions across several JLPT levels.^{8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17}

Layer	What enters at this level
N5	te-form clause linking (sequence, cause); 〜てください; 〜ないでください; 〜ている (progressive and resultant); bare 〜て as a casual request
N4	〜てある; 〜ておく; 〜てしまう; 〜てみる; 〜ていく / 〜てくる; benefactive 〜てあげる / 〜てくれる / 〜てもらう
N3 and up	the literary connector 中止法 / 連用中止形; the politer request ladder (〜ていただけませんか, 〜ていただけますか) and stylistic uses

This article serves as the hub. Each auxiliary use has its own dedicated deep-dive article (planned or shipped). The sections below give the overview and the examples that separate one use from another.

Prerequisites

This article assumes you can already build the te-form for each verb class. Use the sibling article "The Te-Form in Japanese: Construction Rules" if the conjugation is still unfamiliar. The construction rules are out of scope here.^{1 8 10}

It also assumes a working knowledge of the three verb classes (一段, 五段, irregular), covered in "Japanese Verb Groups: 一段, 五段, and Irregular,".^{1 8} You should also know the polite-versus-plain register axis, covered in "Polite vs. Plain Japanese: です/ます vs. だ (丁寧体・普通体),".^{1 8} The reason is that the politeness of any te-form chain rides on the final predicate, not on the 〜て itself.

Bare-te connective uses

Sequence: "A, then B"

The default reading of a 〜て-linked chain is sequence: A happens, then B happens.^{1 8 13 4} Real-world temporal order matches surface order. The te-form itself is tenseless, so the tense of the final predicate sets the tense of the whole chain. The chain can extend to three or more clauses by stacking 〜て on each non-final verb.^{1 8 4}

朝あさ起おきて、ご飯はんを食たべて、会社かいしゃに行いきます。⁸
"I get up in the morning, eat breakfast, and go to the office."

起おきて、シャワーを浴あびて、出でかけた。⁸
"I woke up, took a shower, and went out."

リンゴを買かって帰かえりました。⁴
"I bought apples and went home."

The 〜て itself never carries past tense. In a chain like 朝起きて and 出かけた, "woke up" is past not because 起きて is past (it is not), but because 出かけた at the end is.

Cause and reason: "because A, B"

A 〜て chain reads as cause when the second clause is a natural, non-volitional consequence of the first: an emotion, an involuntary state, a potential, or a stative predicate.^{1 18 19} This reading is unavailable when the second clause is a volitional action. In that case, learners use から or ので instead.

To diagnose the cause reading, look at the lexical type of the second clause:

• A verb of feeling (困る, 疲れる, 安心する, 驚く), a potential form (見えません, 行けません, 食べられない), or a stative predicate (ある, いる, 上手だ) in the result clause forces the cause reading.^{18 19}
• A volitional action (買う, 行く, 食べる, 勉強する) in the result clause forces the sequence reading; for explicit cause, から or ので is required.^{18 19}

風邪かぜをひいて、学校がっこうを休やすみました。⁸
"I caught a cold, so I took the day off school."

天気てんきが悪わるくて、富士山ふじさんが見みえません。¹⁹
"Mt. Fuji isn't visible because the weather is bad."

人ひとが多おおくて入はいれなかった。¹³
"There were too many people, so I couldn't get in."

Compared to から and ので, the te-form cause-reading is softer and more implicit. It leaves the causal link to context rather than asserting it.^{4 19 20} For the explicit-cause contrast, see "The から Particle: From (Source and Reason)".

Two volitional verbs cannot host the cause reading

A 〜て chain like 学校に行って、勉強しました cannot mean "I studied because I went to school." Both predicates are volitional actions, so the chain forces the sequence reading: "I went to school and then studied." To force a cause reading between two volitional actions, use から or ので instead of 〜て.^{18 19}

Manner or means: "doing A, B"

A 〜て chain reads as manner or means when the first verb is a manner-of-motion or instrumental predicate (歩く, 走る, 急ぐ, タクシーに乗る) and the second clause describes the main action.^{1 18 4} The first clause tells you how the second clause is performed. The reading is fixed by the lexical type of the first verb. Speakers do not have to disambiguate consciously.

歩あるいて学校がっこうに行いく。⁴
"I go to school on foot."

走はしって帰かえった。⁴
"I ran home."

タクシーに乗のって空港くうこうまで行いきました。⁸
"I went to the airport by taxi."

Light contrast or simultaneity

A 〜て chain can also link parallel facts with no temporal or causal asymmetry, or carry a light contrast: "A is the case, but B is the case."^{1 4 20} The reading depends on the content of the two clauses, not on any special marker.

見みて、聞きいて、感かんじる。⁴
"See, hear, and feel."

お金かねはあって、時間じかんがない。⁴
"I have money, but I don't have time."

兄あには東京とうきょうにいて、姉あねは大阪おおさかにいます。¹⁷
"My older brother is in Tokyo, and my older sister is in Osaka."

The literary cousin of this use is 中止法 / 連用中止形, the bare masu-stem (連用形) used as a connector in written Japanese. The te-form is the colloquial counterpart. 中止法 belongs to written and formal register.^{18 21 17} Both forms cover sequence, parallel facts, and cause, but 中止法 sounds more segmented. It is rare in spoken Japanese.

The bare ren'yōkei was historically the original connective; the te-form arose as its colloquial successor in Late Old and Early Middle Japanese.^{22 21}

本ほんを読よみ、しばらく考かんがえる。²¹
"I read a book, then think for a while."

That last example is the 中止法 form: 読み (bare ren'yōkei) replaces the colloquial 読んで. If you meet it in newspaper prose or literary writing, read it the same way as a 〜て connector.

When the chain breaks (negation, register)

The te-form has two negative shapes, 〜なくて and 〜ないで. The choice is governed by use, not formality.^{1 18} 〜なくて pairs with the cause and listing readings; 〜ないで pairs with the manner-without-doing reading and the polite negative request.

宿題しゅくだいができなくて、困こまりました。¹⁸
"I couldn't do my homework, so I was in trouble."

朝あさご飯はんを食たべないで会社かいしゃに行いきました。¹⁸
"I went to work without eating breakfast."

The full sort belongs to the dedicated article on the negative te-form. This section only flags the split. In formal written Japanese, the bare masu-stem (連用形 / 中止法) often replaces the colloquial 〜て on a chain; for the masu-stem itself, see "The Japanese Verb Stem (連用形): The Masu-Stem and Its Uses".^{21 17}

The te-form as a light imperative

〜てください: the polite request

〜てください is the standard polite request form: "Please do X."^{1 8 10 11} It is N5 grammar. It is polite enough for service contexts, classroom interaction, and ordinary politeness, but not formal enough for keigo registers such as 商談 (business negotiation) or お客様応対 (customer service to high-status clients).

The form is built as te-form + ください, the polite imperative of くださる (literally, "to give down to me"). Politeness lives in ください. The te-form contributes the verb stem only.^{1 11}

この本ほんを読よんでください。¹¹
"Please read this book."

ちょっと待まってください。⁸
"Please wait a moment."

ここに名前なまえを書かいてください。⁸
"Please write your name here."

ここから写真しゃしんを撮とってください。¹¹
"Please take the picture from here."

Bare 〜て as a soft command between intimates

A bare 〜て (no ください, no following verb) at the end of a sentence is a casual, intimate request. It fits friends, family, parents speaking to children, partners, and peers.^{4 23} It is not appropriate up the social ladder, so dropping ください when speaking to a teacher, superior, customer, or stranger reads as rude.

KaiwaBloom lists the bare-て request as an N5-level pattern in its own right, parallel to 〜てください rather than folded into it. Tofugu treats it as a register-marked sibling of the polite request, not as a separate construction.^{4 23} Intonation and sentence-final particles tune the bare-て request. A rising tone softens it, a flat tone makes it more directive, and adding ね or よ adds warmth or emphasis.²³

ちょっと待まって。²³
"Hold on a sec."

見みて見みて。⁴
"Look, look!"

静しずかにして。²³
"Be quiet."

このりんごを食たべて。²³
"Eat this apple."

The harsher sibling of bare 〜て is the plain imperative (食べろ, 飲め, 静かにしろ). It is gruffer and far more register-restricted. The bare-て request lands in a middle ground: directive but warm. For the plain imperative paradigm, see the dedicated article on imperative forms.

〜てくださいませんか and the politer ladder

Above 〜てください sit a politer ladder of negative-question requests, each step softer than the last.¹

Form	Literal shape	Register
〜てください	te-form + please-give	polite (N5); ordinary service and classroom contexts
〜てくださいませんか	te-form + please-give-NEG-POL-Q	politer; "would you mind doing X?"
〜ていただけませんか	te-form + receive-POT-NEG-POL-Q (humble)	humble polite; lowers the speaker's footing
〜ていただけますか	te-form + receive-POT-POL-Q (humble)	humble polite affirmative question

The lower two rungs use the humble verb いただく ("to receive humbly"), which carries keigo register. Their full treatment belongs to the keigo articles. The examples here only mark the upward ladder.

写真しゃしんを撮とってくださいませんか。¹
"Would you mind taking a photo?"

もう一度いちど説明せつめいしていただけませんか。¹
"Could I trouble you to explain once more?"

名前なまえを教おしえていただけますか。¹
"Could you tell me your name?"

Negative request 〜ないでください

〜ないでください is the polite negative request: "please don't do X."^{1 8 12} It is built on the negative te-form 〜ないで, not on 〜なくて. The shape is verb-ない + で + ください. Politeness again sits on ください, and negation sits on ない.

Bunpro and Genki both place 〜ないでください at N5 alongside the affirmative 〜てください.^{8 12}

写真しゃしんを撮とらないでください。¹²
"Please don't take photos."

心配しんぱいしないでください。¹²
"Please don't worry."

ここでサッカーをしないでください。¹²
"Please don't play soccer here."

For the broader 〜なくて versus 〜ないで sort (which extends beyond requests into cause and manner readings), see the article on the negative te-form.

Auxiliary-verb uses of the te-form

How auxiliary 〜て constructions are built

In an auxiliary 〜て construction, the te-form is the docking point for a small fixed set of helper verbs.^{1 2 5} The te-form is frozen. The helper verb conjugates for tense and politeness. Iwasaki and Makino/Tsutsui both treat the helper inventory as a closed class, a fixed set rather than an open-ended list: いる, ある, おく, しまう, みる, いく, くる, あげる, くれる, もらう.

Each helper contributes its own meaning (aspect, direction, benefit). The te-form does not mean "and" in these constructions. It serves a syntactic role as the suffix that licenses the helper.^{1 2 5}

Helper	Function	JLPT	Reading
〜ている	aspect (progressive / resultant)	N5	"is doing" / "is in the resulting state"
〜てある	resultant state from intent	N4	"has been done (and left that way)"
〜ておく	preparation	N4	"do in advance"
〜てしまう	completion / regret	N4	"do all the way (often regrettably)"
〜てみる	attempt	N4	"try doing (to see)"
〜ていく	deictic away / forward in time	N4	"do and go" / "from now on, do"
〜てくる	deictic toward / up to now	N4	"do and come" / "have been doing"
〜てあげる	benefactive (out-group recipient)	N4	"do for someone"
〜てくれる	benefactive (in-group recipient)	N4	"do for me / us"
〜てもらう	benefactive (subject is receiver)	N4	"receive someone's doing X"

〜ている: progressive and resultant state

〜ている is the most frequent te-form auxiliary in modern Japanese.^{1 2 6 14 7} It has two main readings, decided by the main verb's lexical aspect, or event type.

Durative verbs (食べる, 読む, 書く), which describe actions that last for a while, give the progressive reading: "is doing now." Punctual or change-of-state verbs (結婚する, 死ぬ, 知る, 開く), which describe a point-like event or a change, give the resultant-state reading: "is in the resulting state."

今いま、雨あめが降ふっている。⁷
"It's raining now."

兄あには結婚けっこんしている。²
"My older brother is married."

その人ひとを知しっています。¹⁴
"I know that person."

知る is a punctual verb of acquiring knowledge. 知っている therefore reads as "is in the state of knowing," not as "is acquiring knowledge right now." For the deeper aspectual story (and for the cases where the same verb supports both readings), see the article on 〜ている.

〜てある: state from a deliberate action

〜てある marks a state set up by a deliberate past action. It is built from a transitive verb in the te-form plus ある.^{1 2 24} For example, the window is open because someone opened it on purpose and left it that way. This reading contrasts with 〜ている, which can also mark a resultant state but does not presuppose deliberate agency.

The transitivity constraint is strict: 〜てある pairs with transitive verbs only.^{2 24} Intransitive verbs use 〜ている instead.

窓まどが開あけてある。²⁴
"The window is open (someone opened it and left it that way)."

お弁当べんとうが作つくってある。²⁴
"The bento has been made."

もうクリスマスプレゼントは買かってある。²⁴
"I've already bought the Christmas presents."

〜ておく: preparation, "do in advance"

〜ておく marks an action done in advance for a future situation.^{1 25 15} The base verb 置く ("to place or leave") contributes the idea of "set it down and leave it ready." The auxiliary use carries the preparation reading and a secondary "leave as is" reading.

The colloquial contraction is 〜ておく → 〜とく (and 〜でおく → 〜どく for voiced clusters).^{25 15} The contraction is conversational. In formal speech and writing, the full 〜ておく is preserved.

明日あしたのパーティーのためにジュースを買かっておきました。¹⁵
"I bought juice ahead of time for tomorrow's party."

ここにリモコンを置おいておくね。¹⁵
"I'll leave the remote here for later, okay?"

明日あしたの準備じゅんびをしとくね。¹⁵
"I'll get tomorrow ready, okay."

That last example shows the contraction in action: しておく → しとく.

〜てしまう: completion and regret

〜てしまう marks an action as completed in full, often with an overlay of regret, unintendedness, or unfortunate outcome.^{1 25 9 26} The two readings (pure completion versus regret) depend on context. Modern reference treatments give the regret reading as the usual pragmatic implicature in non-formal speech.

Colloquial contractions are 〜てしまう → 〜ちゃう (after voiceless 〜て) and 〜でしまう → 〜じゃう (after voiced 〜で).^{25 26} Past forms are 〜ちゃった / 〜じゃった.

The contractions are conversational. 〜てしまう is the form to use in writing or formal speech.

宿題しゅくだいを忘わすれてしまいました。⁹
"I forgot my homework."

ケーキを全部ぜんぶ食たべてしまった。²⁶
"I ate the whole cake."

電車でんしゃに乗のり遅おくれちゃった。²⁶
"I missed the train."

財布さいふを落おとしてしまいました。⁹
"I dropped my wallet."

〜てみる: try doing

〜てみる marks an attempt or sampling of an action: doing X to see what it is like, to find out, or to test it.^{1 9 16} The base verb 見る ("to see") contributes the idea of "see what happens." In the auxiliary use, the literal seeing fades and only the trial reading remains.

The form contrasts with the volitional 〜(よ)うとする ("try to do, attempt, possibly without success"). 〜てみる focuses on the trial and the discovery of its result, not on the effort.¹⁶

寿司すしを食たべてみました。¹⁶
"I tried sushi."

この服ふくを着きてみてください。¹⁶
"Please try on this outfit."

先せん週末しゅうまつ、スキーをしてみた。¹⁶
"Last weekend, I tried skiing."

イルカと泳およいでみたいです。¹⁶
"I want to try swimming with dolphins."

〜ていく and 〜てくる: direction and time progression

〜ていく and 〜てくる form a deictic auxiliary set, meaning they are anchored to the speaker's viewpoint.^{1 9 27} 〜ていく moves the action away from the speaker (in space) or into the future (in time). 〜てくる moves the action toward the speaker (in space) or up to the present (in time, looking back at a gradual change).

In the temporal use, 〜ていく often pairs with future or forward-looking adverbials (これから, だんだん), and 〜てくる with past or up-to-now adverbials (今まで, だんだん 〜てきた).²⁷

子供こどもが走はしっていった。²⁷
"The child ran off."

雨あめが降ふってきた。²⁷
"It started raining."

日本語にほんごを勉強べんきょうしてきました。²⁷
"I've been studying Japanese up to now."

これから毎日まいにち、新あたらしい単語たんごを覚おぼえていきます。²⁷
"From now on, I'll learn new vocabulary every day."

Benefactive 〜てあげる, 〜てくれる, 〜てもらう

The benefactive trio adds a giving-and-receiving overlay to the te-form action.^{1 28} 〜てあげる means I (or my in-group) do X for someone else. 〜てくれる means someone does X for me (or my in-group). 〜てもらう means I receive someone's doing X for me. The subject is the recipient.

友達ともだちに日本語にほんごを教おしえてあげました。²⁸
"I taught my friend Japanese."

父ちちが車くるまで送おくってくれました。²⁸
"My father gave me a ride."

先生せんせいに手紙てがみを読よんでもらいました。²⁸
"I had my teacher read the letter."

～てあげる sounds condescending when offered directly

〜てあげる carries a "doing a favor" implication that can sound condescending when used directly to the recipient, especially up the social ladder. A polite offer to a customer or a superior should not use 〜てあげる; reach instead for 〜しましょうか or, more formally, 〜させていただきます.²⁸

For the full benefactive sort and the speaker-perspective rules that govern subject choice, see the dedicated article on te-form + giving and receiving.

How to read any te-form you meet

The decision flow in three checks

You can classify any 〜て you meet by running three checks in order.^{1 4 19 23}

1. Is there a fixed auxiliary verb immediately after 〜て? If yes, read the chain as that auxiliary construction: いる, ある, おく, しまう, みる, いく, くる, あげる, くれる, もらう, or ください.
2. If not, does the sentence end at 〜て with no following clause? If yes, read it as the bare-て soft command, a casual or intimate request.
3. Otherwise, read 〜て as a clause connector. Decide between sequence and cause by testing the second clause for volitionality: a volitional action gives sequence; an involuntary state, emotion, potential, or stative result gives cause.

Worked examples of disambiguation

雨あめが降ふって、試合しあいが中止ちゅうしになった。⁴
"It rained, so the match was cancelled."

Check 1: no auxiliary. Check 2: not sentence-final. Check 3: the result (中止になる, "become cancelled") is involuntary, so the chain reads as cause.

起おきて、シャワーを浴あびて、出でかけた。⁸
"I got up, took a shower, and went out."

Check 3: every clause is a volitional action; the chain reads as sequence.

道みちに迷まよって、遅おくれました。¹⁸
"I got lost, so I was late."

Check 3: the result (遅れる, "be late") is involuntary; the chain reads as cause.

Good to know

The te-form carries no tense and no politeness

The 〜て connector is non-finite: it has no tense and no register of its own.^{1 3 2} Tense lives on the final predicate of the chain. Politeness lives on whatever helper or particle attaches to it. 〜てください is polite because of ください, not because of 〜て. 〜て alone is casual because it is a bare ending, not because 〜て itself is casual.

Once you have the te-form construction memorized, you can produce 〜て chains in casual conversation, polite speech, and writing without changing the te-form itself. Only the final predicate changes.¹

〜なくて versus 〜ないで is not the same choice as 〜て versus bare imperative

The negative te-form has two shapes, 〜なくて and 〜ないで. The choice is governed by function, not by formality.^{1 18} 〜なくて is the cause and listing negative ("because not, not and"). 〜ないで is the manner-without and request negative ("without doing, please don't"). Both shapes exist in both registers.

A common learner confusion is to treat the 〜なくて / 〜ないで split as a politeness pair, mirroring 〜てください versus bare 〜て. The two distinctions are independent. The full sort belongs to the planned article on the negative te-form.

Colloquial contractions in speech

Modern spoken Japanese regularly contracts a small set of te-form + auxiliary chains.^{15 26} The most common are 〜ておく → 〜とく (and 〜でおく → 〜どく), 〜てしまう → 〜ちゃう (and 〜でしまう → 〜じゃう), 〜ている → 〜てる, and 〜ていない → 〜てない.

These are sound contractions in casual speech. None of them change the basic meaning of the sentence. All of them shift the utterance one notch down the formality scale. In writing or formal speech, the full uncontracted forms are preferred.

食たべちゃった。²⁶
"I ate it up."

飲のんじゃった。²⁶
"I drank it all."

言いっとくね。¹⁵
"I'll tell them in advance, okay."

The te-form does not always mean "and" in English

Textbook glosses often default to "and" for the bare-te connective, but the real reading depends on which connective use is active in context: sequence, cause, manner, parallel, or contrast.^{4 19 20} Translating every 〜て as "and" produces flat English and can erase the cause, manner, or contrast information that the original encodes. In cause-reading chains, English idiomatically uses "so" or "because." In manner-reading chains, it uses "by [doing]" or an adverbial participle. In parallel chains, it uses "and." In contrast chains, it uses "but" or "while."

The te-form is not the only connector

Modern Japanese has a small set of clause connectors with overlapping but distinct functions.^{1 18 21 20} 〜て is the colloquial default: neutral register, covering sequence, cause, manner, and parallel uses. 連用形 / 中止法 is its literary written sibling: more segmented and used in formal writing.

から and ので are explicit cause connectors. から is more speaker-asserted, while ので is more reasoned and objective. し is a listing connector that signals and additionally a reason. たり is a sample-listing connector for representative actions. The overview article on clause-linking particles and forms covers the full sort.

See also

• The Te-Form in Japanese: Construction Rules
• Japanese Verb Groups: 一段, 五段, and Irregular
• The Nai-Form (ない形): Plain Negative of Japanese Verbs
• The Ta-Form in Japanese: Construction Rules
• Japanese Giving and Receiving Verbs: あげる, くれる, もらう

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, ～てください, ～ている, ～てある, ～ておく, ～てしまう, ～てみる, ～ていく, ～てくる, ～てあげる, ～てくれる, ～てもらう, pp. 247–254, 387–399, 460–472, 478–482. ↩ ↩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

2. Iwasaki, Shoichi. Japanese (London Oriental and African Language Library 17), revised edition. John Benjamins, 2013. ISBN 978-90-272-3818-3. Chapter 6 on verbal morphology and the converb / non-finite te-form; treatment of ～ている (progressive vs resultant) and the auxiliary system. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³

3. Shibatani, Masayoshi. The Languages of Japan. Cambridge University Press, 1990. ISBN 978-0-521-36918-3. Chapter 7 on Japanese verbal morphology; treatment of the te-form as a non-finite converb / connective. ↩ ↩²

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 sequence / manner / cause / contrast taxonomy on the bare-て connective, the bare-て casual-command framing, and the ambiguity of 睡眠薬を飲んで眠った between sequence, manner, and cause). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷

5. Tae Kim. "Other uses of the te-form." https://www.guidetojapanese.org/learn/grammar/teform (limitation: language-learning publisher; used for the auxiliary inventory ～ている, ～てある, ～ておく, ～ていく, ～てくる). ↩ ↩² ↩³

6. 国立国語研究所 (NINJAL). 『現代日本語書き言葉均衡コーパス』(BCCWJ, Balanced Corpus of Contemporary Written Japanese). https://clrd.ninjal.ac.jp/bccwj/ (used for frequency confirmation of high-frequency te-form chains and auxiliary collocations: 〜てください, 〜ている, 〜てある, 〜ておく, 〜てしまう, 〜てみる, 〜ていく, 〜てくる). ↩ ↩²

7. Tofugu. "Japanese Verb Continuous Form ている." https://www.tofugu.com/japanese-grammar/verb-continuous-form-teiru/ (limitation: language-learning publisher; used for the progressive vs resultant-state split of ～ている and the references to Shirai 2000 and Iwasaki 2013). ↩ ↩² ↩³

8. 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 6 introduces the te-form and the ～てください request; Lessons 7–10 layer ～ている, ～てもいい, ～てはいけない, and the te-form clause linker with sequence and cause readings. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶

9. Banno, Eri, et al. Genki II: An Integrated Course in Elementary Japanese, 3rd edition. The Japan Times, 2020. ISBN 978-4-7890-1731-2. Lessons covering ～てしまう, ～ておく, ～てみる, ～ていく / ～てくる, and the benefactive trio ～てあげる / ～てくれる / ～てもらう at N4 level. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶

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 14 introduces the te-form together with ～てください; Lessons 15–17 add ～てもいい, ～てはいけない, ～ている. ↩ ↩² ↩³

11. Bunpro. "てください (JLPT N5)." https://bunpro.jp/grammar_points/%E3%81%A6%E3%81%8F%E3%81%A0%E3%81%95%E3%81%84 (limitation: language-learning publisher; used for JLPT-level confirmation of the polite request form and example sentences). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

12. Bunpro. "ないでください (JLPT N5)." https://bunpro.jp/grammar_points/%E3%81%AA%E3%81%84%E3%81%A7%E3%81%8F%E3%81%A0%E3%81%95%E3%81%84 (limitation: language-learning publisher; used for JLPT-level confirmation of the polite negative request form and example sentences). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶

13. Bunpro. "Verb + て (JLPT N5)." https://bunpro.jp/grammar_points/verb-%E3%81%A6 and "Verb + て + B (JLPT N5)." https://bunpro.jp/grammar_points/verb-%E3%81%A6-b (limitation: language-learning publisher; used for N5 placement of the bare-て connective and the sequence / cause range). ↩ ↩² ↩³

14. Bunpro. "ている① (JLPT N5)." https://bunpro.jp/grammar_points/27 (limitation: language-learning publisher; used for N5 placement and the progressive / resultant-state split of ～ている). ↩ ↩² ↩³

15. Bunpro. "ておく (JLPT N4)." https://bunpro.jp/grammar_points/%E3%81%A6%E3%81%8A%E3%81%8F (limitation: language-learning publisher; used for JLPT-level confirmation, the preparation meaning, and the 〜とく contraction). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸

16. Bunpro. "てみる (JLPT N4)." https://bunpro.jp/grammar_points/%E3%81%A6%E3%81%BF%E3%82%8B (limitation: language-learning publisher; used for JLPT-level confirmation and the "try to see the result" framing). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷

17. 日本語NET. "【JLPT N3】文法・例文：連用中止." https://nihongokyoshi-net.com/2018/12/06/jlptn3-grammar-renyoochuushi/ (limitation: language-learning publisher; used for the JLPT placement of 中止法 / 連用中止形 as an N3-level written-language feature and the verb いる → おり variant). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

18. 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 the te-form connective (sequence, cause, manner), 中止法, and the auxiliary inventory. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹²

19. 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 constraint that the result clause of a cause-reading 〜て must be non-volitional: emotion, potential, or state, and not a volitional action; cited contrast with から / ので). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸

20. Wasabi. "Sequential and Parallel Actions: …て, …たり, and …し." https://wasabi-jpn.com/magazine/japanese-grammar/sequential-and-parallel-actions/ (limitation: language-learning publisher; used for the contrast between 〜て (sequence and reason), たり (sample listing), and し (listing reasons)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

21. Imabi. "連用中止形." https://imabi.org/%E9%80%A3%E7%94%A8%E4%B8%AD%E6%AD%A2%E5%BD%A2/ (limitation: language-learning publisher; used for the definition of 連用中止形 / 中止法, the historical claim that the bare ren'yōkei was the original connective and the te-form is its colloquial successor, the register (literary / written), and the partial functional overlap with the te-form on sequence, cause, and parallelism). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

22. Frellesvig, Bjarke. A History of the Japanese Language. Cambridge University Press, 2010. ISBN 978-0-521-65320-6. Chapters on Late Old Japanese and Early Middle Japanese verbal morphology; treatment of the gerund-like ren'yōkei and the rise of the te-form as the colloquial successor to the bare 連用形 connective. ↩

23. KaiwaBloom. "Japanese Casual Request Form: て (te) [JLPT N5 Grammar]." https://www.kaiwabloom.com/book-001/020-te-casual-request-form (limitation: language-learning publisher; used for the explicit treatment of bare 〜て as a casual / intimate request, the register notes (friends, family, peers), and the role of ね / よ softeners). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷

24. Tofugu. "〜てある for When Something Is Done (and Left That Way)." https://www.tofugu.com/japanese-grammar/tearu/ (limitation: language-learning publisher; used for the transitive-verb constraint on ～てある and the contrast with ～ている). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

25. Makino, Seiichi, and Michio Tsutsui. A Dictionary of Intermediate Japanese Grammar. The Japan Times, 1995. ISBN 978-4-7890-0775-7. Entries on ～てしまう (regret/completion semantics) and ～ておく (preparation/keep-as-is) at the intermediate level. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

26. Practice Japanese. "〜てしまう (Completion/Regret)." https://practice-japanese.com/grammar/te-shimau/ (limitation: language-learning publisher; used for the dual meaning (completion / regret) of ～てしまう and the contraction rules 〜てしまう → 〜ちゃう, 〜でしまう → 〜じゃう). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷

27. Tofugu. "〜ていく・〜てくる for Gradual Process." https://www.tofugu.com/japanese-grammar/teiku-tekuru/ (limitation: language-learning publisher; used for the directional and temporal split between ～ていく (away / into future) and ～てくる (toward / up to now)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶

28. Tofugu. "Giving and Receiving Verbs: くれる, あげる, and もらう." https://www.tofugu.com/japanese-grammar/kureru-ageru-morau/ (limitation: language-learning publisher; used for the benefactive trio ～てあげる / ～てくれる / ～てもらう and the speaker-perspective rules). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵