て

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

• IPA^(key): [te̞]

て • (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, こ𛄲 (𛄲)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, 𛀆, ゆゅ, 𛀁, よょ, らら゚, りり゚, るる゚, れれ゚, ろろ゚, わゎわ゙, ゐ𛅐 (𛅐)ゐ゙, 𛄟 (𛄟), ゑ𛅑 (𛅑)ゑ゙, を𛅒 (𛅒)を゙, ん, ー, ゝ, ゞ, ゟ

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

• (allomorph used with -gu/-bu/-mu/-nu (voiced ending) godan verbs) で (de)

• IPA^(key): [te̞]

て • (-te) 

1. the conjunctive ending, attaching to the ren'yōkei of verbs and adjectives.
   1. simply indicates separate actions or states that occur simultaneously; and

      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; do something and

      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; because doing something

      風(か)邪(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; do something but

      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(いち)日(にち)を過(す)ごした。

      Yorokonde ichinichi o sugoshita.

      I spent the day being happy.

   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(に)本(ほん)語(ご)を勉(べん)強(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. (women's speech) used in sentence-final position, an extension of the conjunctive particle above and simply omitting any following words; usually takes the form って when attaching to adjectives
   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. 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.

      いつか、私(わたし)を助(たす)けてね

      itsuka, watashi o tasukete ne

      Help me someday, okay?

   3. short for ている (-te iru)
      1. indicates the speaker's opinion or judgment; usually followed by よ (yo)

      お手(て)紙(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'll be waiting.

• In Standard Japanese the -te form of 行く (iku, “to go”) is 行って (itte).
• The Kansai forms are also literary. In Standard Japanese they are mandatory for the two verbs 問う (tou, “to ask”) and 請う (kou, “to beg”).
• 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.

• As both the ren'yōkei form and the て (te)/で (de) form connect clauses together, they are usually interchangeable. They each serve specific grammatical purposes as follows:
  • When two verbs are closely related in context, て (te) must be used.

    デパートへ行(い)って、買(か)い物(もの)をする ― depāto e itte,kaimono o suru ― I'll go to the department store and do some shopping.

  • When two verbs are both controllable in nature, て (te) must be used.

    友達(ともだち)に会(あ)って、休(やす)みのことを尋(たず)ねる ― tomodachi ni atte, yasumi no koto o tazuneru ― I'll meet my friend and ask about their holiday.

  • When two verbs are both uncontrollable in nature, て (te) must be used.

    地(じ)震(しん)で地(じ)面(めん)がすごく揺(ゆ)れて、立(た)てなかった ― jishin de jimen ga sugoku yurete,tatenakatta ― The ground shook so much in the earthquake that I couldn't stand up.

[1][2]

• This word is classified as 助詞 (joshi, “auxiliary word; particle”) in traditional Japanese grammar. In modern linguistics, it is an inflectional 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[3] and continues to be used to this day. In Japanese materials adopting the modern linguistic analysis, this form is simply called the テ形 (-te kei, “-te form”).

• IPA^(key): [te̞]

て • (te) 

1. alternative form of the quotative particle って (tte), used after ん (n)

   こまちゃんて言(い)うな――!!

   Koma-chan te iu na――!!

   Don't call me Koma-chan!