Verbs ending in う, つ, or る become って

💡 Exception: 行く → 行って (not 行いて)

Verbs ending in む, ぶ, or ぬ become んで

💡 The ん sound is nasal, followed by で

く becomes いて, ぐ becomes いで

💡 Voiced consonant (ぐ) keeps voicing (いで)

Verbs ending in す become して

💡 す verbs are the easiest - just change to して

Ichidan verbs drop る and add て

💡 Group 2 verbs are simple - just replace る with て

Irregular verb て-forms to memorize

💡 Only two irregular verbs - memorize these

Please do [verb]

💡 Most common way to make polite requests

Be doing [verb] / Have [verb]ed (state)

💡 Context determines if it's ongoing action or resultant state

After doing [verb]

💡 Emphasizes that A must be complete before B

May I [verb]?

💡 Add か for questions, remove for statements of permission

Must not [verb] / Don't [verb]

💡 はいけない is more formal; はだめ is casual

Do for someone / Have someone do / Someone does for me

💡 Direction of favor: あげる (give), もらう (receive), くれる (receive toward speaker)

Do in advance / Do and leave

💡 Often contracted to 〜とく in casual speech (準備しとく)

Completely do / Unfortunately do

💡 Casual: 〜ちゃう/〜じゃう (食べちゃった, 忘れちゃった)

Try doing [verb]

💡 Implies testing/experimenting with the action