Telling Someone What To Do
“If a man does his best, what else is there?” – General George S. Patton
The absolute simplest grammar point we can learn using te-form is what’s stated right in the title: telling someone what to do (aka commanding them). To do this, all you have to do is make a statement with a verb in it, and then make it te-form. For example:
aやさい を たべる
(I will) Eat vegetables
aやさい を たべて
Eat your vegetables
aがっこう に 行く
(I will) Go to school
aがっこう に 行って
Go to school
aくすり を のむ
(I will) Drink medicine
aくすり を のんで
Drink your medicine
Do you see how the meaning of the sentence changes with this one small alteration? All you’re doing is changing the verb to te-form. Once you do that, you’re ordering people around like it’s 1955. One thing that makes this better is the sentence ender ね. Throw that on there and you’ll sound a bit more patronizing… but sometimes that’s what you gotta do.
aやさい を たべてね
Eat your vegetables, okay?
aがっこう に 行ってね
Go to school, alright?
aくすり を のんでね
Drink your medicine, okay?
This is when you’re not sure if the person is going to actually do what you’re telling them to do. So, you’re basically asking them for their agreement with your statement. Let’s look at one more very simple thing you can do with te-form verbs before trying it out. It’s almost as simple as this one, but twice as long.