In older Japanese the Te Form and the plain past Ta Form (you can make the latter, just by changing -e to -a) used to be made by adding -te and -ta to the stem of the verb (what is left when you remove -masu).
This still works with all the Ru Verbs and U Verbs with Dictionary Form ending in -su:
Dictionary | Masu | Te Form |
---|---|---|
taberu 'eat' | tabemasu | tabete |
miru 'see' | mimasu | mite |
hanasu 'speak' | hanashimasu | hanashite |
For U Verbs, however, with Dictionary Forms ending in other letters, various contractions have taken place.
U Verbs ending in the nasal consonants bu, mu and nu end up with -nde:
Dictionary | Masu | Te Form |
---|---|---|
yobu 'call' | yobimasu | yonde |
yomu 'read' | yomimasu | yonde |
shinu 'die' | shinimasu | shinde |
Note that 死ぬ Shinu 'die' is the only verb in modern Japanese ending in -nu. Often it is replaced by euphemisms such as 亡くなる naku naru lit. 'become nothing, disappear' in polite speech.
With verbs ending in -u, -ru or -tsu, we end up with -tte:
Dictionary | Masu | Te Form |
---|---|---|
kau 'buy' | kaimasu | katte |
kawaru '(sth) changes' | kawarimasu | kawatte |
matsu 'wait' | machimasu | matte |
With verbs ending in -ku or gu, the k or g in the stem drops, but the g has enough strength to turn -te to -de:
Dictionary | Masu | Te Form |
---|---|---|
kaku 'write' | kakimasu | kaite |
kagu 'smell (sth)' | kagimasu | kaide |
All verbs with the consonants mentioned follow these rules, as we would expect である de aru, する suru and 来る kuru are irregular:
Dictionary | Masu | Te Form |
---|---|---|
de aru | desu | de |
suru | shimasu | shite |
kuru | kimasu | kite |
行く Iku 'go' is also irregular in this one form: itte
言う Iu 'say' (pronounced yuu) is also irregular; also: itte