Te Verb Form The て form is a very useful grammatical structure in Japanese, because you can use it to express many different things. In some cases, the て form is the equivalent of ‘ing’ in English and is used to explain an action you’re presently doing. In other cases, the て form can be used to join sentences together to make one longer sentence instead of having 2 shorter ones. The て form is used with verbs, but firstly you need to know which group the verb belongs to. There are 3 groups of verbs in Japanese and each group has different rules when using the て form. The 3 groups are: Group 1 - う (u) verbs Group 2 - る (ru) verbs Group 3 - Irregular verbs Group 1 – う Verbs う verbs form 5 different groups. Follow the rules below. Group 1 – う Verbs Group 2 - る Verbs Generally, if there is an え sound or only one character before the ます, the verb is a る verb. To change it to て form, cut off the ます and add て　います. Eg. To eat: たべます This verb has an え sound before ます. Eating: たべて　います To look/see: みます This verb has only one character before ます - み Looking:　みて　います Group 3 - Irregular verbs These 2 verbs don’t follow any rules. You just have to remember them. To do します To come きますしてきて For more information about て form, please refer to pg 88 of the textbook.