I was doing a Duolingo lesson (Which I use mostly to review or learn vocabulary, I’m aware of the several flaws but that’s not the point) and a phrase came up that I wasn’t sure how it worked and Google didn’t help.
学校に行き、それから勉強しました。
Shouldn’t it be the plain form 行く？ I know only in the end it’s “confirmed as in the past” but I’m not seeing how 行き is a thing.
Thank you!
2 comments
The ます stem can be used like the て form, which is a conjunction. It’s used mostly in writing.
I’m this example, if you had the plain form it would end one sentence and start another, but the politeness levels are different so it’s not contextually right.
学校に行って、それから勉強しました。
学校に行き、それから勉強しました。
学校に行きました。それから勉強しました。
masu stem can be used to form conjunctions like the te-form. You can rewrite this sentence using the te-form “itte” and it would mean basically the same thing.
“I studied *because* I went to school”