I’m not really sure how to put my question but I hope it will be more or less understandable what I want to ask.
Does the て form when you connect two verbs automatically imply that the things are done after each other?
Example: If I said さしみを食べて、冷水を飲んだ。Would the usage of て form imply that I first ate the Sashimi and then after I finished the Sashimi I drank the cold water?
Or can I also use it (the て form) when I want to express that “I ate Sashimi and drank cold water” in the sense of taking a bite of the Sashimi, then taking a sip of the water, then eating the Sashimi again and so on?
1 comment
No, it doesn’t imply that.
I think giving “and” as the standard translation for this form hurts more than helps. It’s really more like “-ing” in English except that the two things can happen after each other, which can’t happen in “-ing” in which case “after … -ing” must be used.
> さしみを食べて、冷水を飲んだ
Could mean either sequential, or simultaneous. To be explicit about sequential one can use “食べてから”, to be explicit about simultaneous one can use “食べながら”
But for instance:
– “ナイフを使ってパンを切った。” for “I cut the bread using a knife.”. the use of the knife and the cutting of the bread happen at the same time.
– “難しすぎて読めない。” for “It’s too difficult to for me to read.”, as in “it being too difficult, I can’t read it.”, the being difficult does not exist before being unable to read it.
– “座っていい。” for “You can sit down.” or literally “It’s fine sitting down.”.
The te-form of adjectives combined with one another pretty never imply sequential state and always simultaneous.