Telling a story

Sequence Words and て-form Connections

When telling a story in Japanese, you need sequence words and the て-form to connect events smoothly.

Sequence words

• まず — first / to begin with
• それから — then / after that
• 次に (つぎに) — next
• 最後に (さいごに) — finally / lastly
• 突然 (とつぜん) — suddenly

The て-form for connecting actions

The て-form lets you chain multiple actions in one sentence, like "and" in English:

• 朝起きて、顔を洗って、ご飯を食べた。(I woke up, washed my face, and ate breakfast.)

The て-form follows the same consonant rules as the た-form, but with て/で instead of た/だ:

• 食べる → 食べて / 行く → 行って / 飲む → 飲んで

Putting it together

まず、駅に行って、電車に乗りました。それから、友達と会って、一緒にご飯を食べました。最後に、映画を見ました。

(First, I went to the station and took the train. Then, I met a friend and we ate together. Finally, we watched a movie.)