Japanese Te Form Input Drill: Six Conjugations You Need to Recall

Practise producing the te form from a dictionary form. The focus here is spelling and sound changes; the linked grammar lesson explains how to use the resulting form.

Sort the final sound

五段 verbs ending in う, つ, or る use って. Those ending in む, ぶ, or ぬ use んで. A final く usually gives いて, a final ぐ gives いで, and a final す gives して. Say the resulting word rather than remembering only an isolated ending.

行く is an important exception: its te form is 行って, not 行いて. An 一段 verb such as 食べる simply loses る before て. する becomes して and 来る becomes 来て, read きて.

Small っ matters

待て and 待って are different forms. This exercise accepts declared kana and kanji spellings, but it does not remove small kana or stretch a vowel automatically. After checking a mistake, read the correct form once, then retrieve it later without the table.

Examples to read before you practise

Try six questions

Try these self-check questions from memory, then compare your answers with the explanations. For automatic checking and saved progress, open the related practice after this article.

1. 読む → te form

2. 待つ → te form

3. 書く → te form

4. 泳ぐ → te form

5. 話す → te form

6. 行く → te form

Answer key and explanations

1. 読んで / よんで — む gives んで.

2. 待って / まって — つ gives って.

3. 書いて / かいて — く normally gives いて.

4. 泳いで / およいで — ぐ gives いで with a voiced で.

5. 話して / はなして — す gives して.

6. 行って / いって — 行く is the って exception.

Keep learning

• Study te form.

• Study verb groups.

• Open the related three-step lesson.

• See your daily study and review schedule.

Related lessons

• Te Iru Practice: Ongoing Actions, Habits, and Resulting States

• Kara vs Node Practice: Give a Reason and Build the Connection

• To vs Ya Practice: Complete Lists, Examples, and Companions