Can someone explain to me the difference in usage of when to connect two sentences with てform vs. using the “し(い Form of the verb)“?

For example:

家に帰って、晩ご飯を食べた。

VS

家に帰り、朝ご飯を食べた。

4 comments
  1. The ます stem (i-form) is used to connect two verbs into a compound word, such as 叫び出す (sakebidasu, to scream/shout + to let out = to cry out). The て form is used as a grammatical structure to say “I did x and/then did y”, as in the first example sentence you gave.

    Very much oversimplified but this is just a general usage guideline.

  2. It’s mostly just a difference in formality as far as I know, as in they mean exactly the same, but using the 連用形 directly feels more formal or “literary” or whatever you want to call it

  3. They are the same. て connects to 連用形, originally 帰って was 帰りて and this became 帰って in modern Japanese. I think the て strengthens the idea of a sequence of actions. In modern Japanese the difference is mainly that just the 連用形 eg 帰り, is more formal.

  4. So, it’s important to keep in mind that “て form” evolved from 連用形(れんようけい) (what you refer to as “い form”) + the particle て. Due to sound shifts, 聞きて has become 聞いて, 読みて has become 読んで, 帰りて has become 帰って, etc.

    The big function of 連用形, with verbs and adjectives alike, is to link a verb or adjective to a 用言(ようげん), a declining/conjugating word (i.e., a verb or adjective).

    You can either use the particle て, which is standard in most spoken and written situations, or you can omit the particle て, which Ben Kerman correctly explained is generally a more literary construction.

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