〜て

The て-form is the workhorse of Japanese verb morphology — the same conjugated stem feeds requests (〜てください), progressive aspect (〜ている), permission (〜てもいい), prohibition (〜てはいけない), sequential events (〜て…), and many more. Learning て-form conjugation early is the single highest-leverage move a beginner can make.

The て-form on its own connects clauses sequentially: 起きて、ご飯を食べて、出かけた — "I got up, ate, and went out." It does not carry tense — the tense of the final verb scopes back over the whole chain. て can also express a loose causal link ("and so"): 寒くて、家にいた — "it was cold, so I stayed home."

Conjugation by verb class:
• Ichidan (る-verbs): drop る → add て (食べる → 食べて)
• Godan (う-verbs): the consonant-class table — く→いて, ぐ→いで, す→して, つ/う/る→って, ぬ/ぶ/む→んで
• Irregular: 来る → 来て, する → して, 行く → 行って (irregular for 行く specifically)

Memorize the godan endings as a song or chart — every other te-based pattern depends on getting this right.