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Japanese
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Etymology 1
Derived in the Heian period from writing the man'yōgana kanji 天 in the cursive sōsho style.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): [te̞]
Syllable
て (romaji te)
Derived terms
- で (de)
See also
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): [te̞]
Particle
て (rōmaji te)
- A conjunctive particle, attaching to the ren'yōkei of verbs and adjectives. When attached to godan verbs, onbin sound changes may occur, sometimes changing the particle into で (-de).
- Simply indicates actions or states that occur simultaneously.
- 大きくて甘いリンゴ
- ōkikute amai ringo
- a big, sweet apple
- 姉がピアノを弾いて妹が歌を歌う。
- Ane ga piano o hiite imōto ga uta o utau.
- The elder sister plays piano and the younger sister sings songs.
- 大きくて甘いリンゴ
- Indicates actions or states that occur successively.
- 家に帰って、テレビを見た。
- Ie ni kaette, terebi o mita.
- I went back home and watched TV.
- 家に帰って、テレビを見た。
- Indicates reason or cause.
- 風邪を引いて、学校を休んだ。
- Kaze o hiite, gakkō o yasunda.
- I didn't go to school because I caught a cold.
- 風邪を引いて、学校を休んだ。
- Used as a contrastive conjunction.
- 見て見ぬふり ― mite minu furi ― saw but pretended not to see → turn a blind eye
- 知っていて教えない
- shitte ite oshienai
- to know something but not to tell it
- Indicates method or state.
- 喜んで一日を過ごした。
- Yorokonde ichinichi o sugoshita.
- I spend the day happily.
- 喜んで一日を過ごした。
- 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.
- 日本語を勉強している。
- Nihongo o benkyō shite iru.
- I'm learning Japanese.
- 机の上に置いてある。
- Tsukue no ue ni oite aru.
- It's put on the desk.
- 日本語を勉強している。
- Used in the form …て…て (… te … te) to show emphasis or repetition.
- ては (-te wa) and ても (-te mo) make conditional clauses.
- Simply indicates actions or states that occur simultaneously.
- A sentence-final particle, derived from the conjunctive particle above. Attaches to verbs and adjectives in the same way, and usually takes the form って when attaching to adjectives. Considered quite feminine.
- Used to seek opinion or ask a question.
- もうご覧になって？
- Mō goran ni natte?
- Have you seen it?
- よろしくって？
- Yoroshikutte?
- Is it OK?
- もうご覧になって？
- Indicates the speaker's opinion or judgment. Usually followed by よ (yo).
- お手紙ちょうだいね。待っててよ
- O-tegami chōdai ne. Matte te yo
- Please send me a letter. I'm waiting.
- お手紙ちょうだいね。待っててよ
- 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).
- 助けて！
- Tasukete!
- Help!
- ちょっと待って
- chotto matte
- Wait a minute.
- 助けて！
- Used to seek opinion or ask a question.
- Alternative form of the case, binding or sentence-final particle って (tte), used after the /ɴ/ sound.
- こまちゃんて言うな――!!
- Koma-chan te iuna――!!
- Don't call me Koma-chan!
- こまちゃんて言うな――!!
Usage notes
- 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):
- ご飯を食べなくて出た ― gohan o tabenakute deta ― I didn't eat and I went out.
- ご飯を食べないで出た ― 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).
- 姉がピアノを弾き、妹が歌を歌う。 ― ane ga piano o hiki, imōto ga uta o utau. ― (formal) The elder sister plays piano and the younger sister sings songs.
- In the western analysis of Japanese grammar, “て (te)” is not a particle but a 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[1] and continues to be used to this day. In Japanese materials adopting the western analysis of Japanese grammar, this form is simply called the テ形 (-te kei, “-te form”).
Etymology 3
| For pronunciation and definitions of て – see the following entry at 手. |
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| (This term, て, is a hiragana spelling of 手.) |
References
- Frellesvig, Bjarke (2010) A History of the Japanese Language, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-521-65320-6, page 57
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