Ask people to do something

Long ago, I talk with one of my Japanese customer. His English was fine and we don't have any communication problem until I told him to write down something. I try my best to ask him to write what I'm going to tell but he couldn't understand that, so I say to him "書いてください" (Kaite kudasai) means please write. He looks suprised then laughed a lot, and conversation end well.


Back to our lessons, 書く/かく (kaku) means write. In Japanese, base form for verbs end with vowel 'u'. If base form convert to 'te' form, then it become a command for example かく convert to かいて a meaning of WRITE become PLEASE WRITE. However this is sound quite rude for Japanese, so we need to add 'kudasai' at the back so it sound more polite. I'll give more example below


食べる (eat)     become       食べてください (please eat)

taberu                                                            tabete kudasai


歩く (aruku/walk)          歩いてください (aruite kudasai)


見る (miru/watch)         見てください (mite kudasai)




However, verbs conjugation depends on its base form which means different word will results in different 'te' form after conjugate.

• For all verbs ending in ぶ (bu), む (mu), or ぬ (nu); the ぶ (bu), む (mu), or ぬ (nu) becomes んで (nde). [example: yomu (to read become yonde (Please read)]

•  For all verbs ending in う (u), つ (tsu), or る (ru); the う (u), つ (tsu), or る (ru) becomes って (tte) in the "te" form and った (tta) in the "ta" form. [ex. katsu (to win) -> katte (please win)]

• For all verbs ending in く (ku), the く (ku) becomes いて (ite) in the "te" form. [example like above: aruku (to walk) become aruite (Please walk)] The only exception to this rule is for the verb iku (to go) which becomes いって(itte)

• For all verbs ending in ぐ (gu), the ぐ (gu) becomes いで (ide) in the "te" form. [example: oyogu (to swim) becomes oyoide (Please swim)]

• For all verbs ending in す (su), the す (su) becomes して (shite) in the "te" form. [example: hanasu (to talk) becomes hanashite (Please say)]

• For all verbs ending in  いる(iru) or える(eru), simply take off the "ru" and add a "te" in the "te" form. [example 食べる (taberu) become 食べて (tabete) and見る (miru) become 見て (mite)]

• Exception for  来る (kuru) and  する (suru), "kuru" become "kite" and "suru" become "shite"

Please do self study...hehehe (if u like), any interesting example please share inside a comment.