Learned this already, except not the negative forms

Sources:

JSL Textbook

Italki Thread Discussion

Structure

Nominals

Nominal + で

Adjectivals

Adjectival in adverbial form (drop い add く), add て

Verbals

Verbal in gerund form… Honestly just have to memorize the rules…

Take dictionary form, then depending on the type of verb and the ending:

Ichidan

る => て

Godan

Replace Ending:

う/つ/る => って

ぬ/む/ぶ => んで

き => いて

ぎ => いで

す => して

Special Polites

る => って

Exceptions

する => して

くる => きて

Uses

So, this is extremely commonly used. Raw, it’s used to link two predicates together. There could be an implication of a cause/effect or a sequential predicate, but those meanings are not explicit and based on context (though these contexts often occur). Without any extra meanings, it is sometimes translated as “and”. In JSL, they describe X in te-form as “having actualized X, …”

この仮名はきれいで楽です - “This kana is beautiful and easy”

高くて赤いです - “It’s expensive and red”

昨日、宿題をして外に行った - “Yesterday, I did homework and went outside”

BUT, there are a ton of other grammar points that will use the te-form in its construction. Ex. Progessive form, permission, asking for favors, etc.

Negative

So if you notice that all negative predicates end in ない (for direct style), you can see that they are all adjectives themselves.

So you might want to think that the negative te-form for everything is just dropping ない and adding なくて.

That actually works, but apparently there is also ないで where the で is the copula gerund I believe.

In general, if using the use of parallel connection (and cause/reason from what I’ve read) of predicates, both work. Although, I read that for adjectivals and nominals you use なくて. But for verbals, you use なくて for cause/reason, and ないで for everything else.

BUT, ofc based on different grammar structures, なくて or ないで could be required.

Polite

Verbals have a polite form due to their ます form.

Structure: ます => まして

Uses:

  • Ritual expressions

  • Used as sentence fragment enders (in distal style). Implication is that the listener knows what will be said by the connected following predicate.




Vocab:

Here are some kanji from the lessons that I wasn’t really familiar with at this point:

  • none