This is the second godan te-form group. Any godan verb whose dictionary form ends in む, ぶ, or ぬ builds its て-form the same way: the final kana turns into ん, and — this is the part learners forget — the connector voices from て to で, giving んで. Linguists call this the 撥音便 (hatsuon-bin), the "nasal" change. Three endings, one identical んで outcome.
The mechanism: a nasal, then a voiced で
Historically, て attached to the stem: no-mi + te, a-so-bi + te, shi-ni + te. The final syllable nasalized into ん, and that nasal then dragged the following consonant into voicing — te became de. You can feel why: it's hard to snap from a humming nasal ん straight into a crisp unvoiced t, so the language lets the voicing carry through.
- 読む yo-mu → yo-*n-de* → 読んで
- 遊ぶ a-so-bu → a-so-*n-de* → 遊んで
- 死ぬ shi-nu → shi-*n-de* → 死んで
The whole group ends in the voiced で, never て. That single fact — voicing — is the only thing you really have to remember here.
The full derivation table
| Ending | Dictionary | て-form | Reading |
|---|---|---|---|
| む | 読む (to read) | 読んで | yomu → yonde |
| 飲む (to drink) | 飲んで | nomu → nonde | |
| 休む (to rest) | 休んで | yasumu → yasunde | |
| 住む (to live) | 住んで | sumu → sunde | |
| ぶ | 遊ぶ (to play) | 遊んで | asobu → asonde |
| 呼ぶ (to call) | 呼んで | yobu → yonde | |
| 選ぶ (to choose) | 選んで | erabu → erande | |
| 運ぶ (to carry) | 運んで | hakobu → hakonde | |
| ぬ | 死ぬ (to die) | 死んで | shinu → shinde |
Note that 読む → 読んで and 呼ぶ → 呼んで are both read yonde — the kanji distinguishes them, just as with 言って / 行って in the って group.
In natural sentences
週末は家でゆっくり本を読んで過ごした。
shūmatsu wa ie de yukkuri hon o yonde sugoshita
I spent the weekend relaxing at home reading.
風邪気味だから、薬を飲んで早めに寝るよ。
kaze-gimi da kara, kusuri o nonde hayame ni neru yo
I'm coming down with a cold, so I'll take some medicine and turn in early.
子供たちは公園で楽しそうに遊んでいる。
kodomotachi wa kōen de tanoshisō ni asonde iru
The kids are playing happily in the park.
すみません、タクシーを一台呼んでもらえますか。
sumimasen, takushī o ichi-dai yonde moraemasu ka
Excuse me, could you call a taxi for me?
好きな席を選んで座ってください。
suki na seki o erande suwatte kudasai
Please pick a seat you like and have a seat.
この荷物、二階まで運んでくれる？
kono nimotsu, nikai made hakonde kureru?
Can you carry this luggage up to the second floor?
ちょっと休んでから、続きをやろう。
chotto yasunde kara, tsuzuki o yarō
Let's take a short break and then keep going.
東京に住んで、もう十年になる。
Tōkyō ni sunde, mō jū-nen ni naru
It's been ten years now since I moved to Tokyo.
死ぬ: a rule for essentially one word
Here's a quirk worth knowing. 死ぬ is the only verb ending in ぬ in all of modern Japanese. So the ぬ → んで rule exists, in practice, for a single word. That might sound like wasted effort — except む and ぶ share the identical んで shape, so the three endings collapse into one pattern you learn once and apply everywhere. 死ぬ just rides along for free.
かわいがっていた金魚が死んでしまった。
kawaigatte ita kingyo ga shinde shimatta
The goldfish I'd been caring for died.
Because 死ぬ is an instantaneous change-of-state verb, its 〜ている form 死んでいる means "is dead" (a resultant state), not "is dying."
Free bonus: it's identical to the past 〜んだ
If you already know the plain past た-form, you already know this group — the nasal change is exactly the same, only the final vowel differs: んで ↔ んだ. Swap で for だ and you have the past; there is nothing new to learn.
| Dictionary | て-form (んで) | Past (んだ) |
|---|---|---|
| 読む (to read) | 読んで | 読んだ |
| 遊ぶ (to play) | 遊んで | 遊んだ |
| 死ぬ (to die) | 死んで | 死んだ |
The voicing rule is the same on both sides: because む・ぶ・ぬ are voiced, both endings are voiced (で / だ), never the unvoiced て / た. See the て／た parallel for the complete one-to-one map across every godan group.
子供のころ、この公園でよく遊んだ。今も子供たちが遊んでいる。
kodomo no koro, kono kōen de yoku asonda. ima mo kodomotachi ga asonde iru
I played in this park a lot as a kid. Kids are still playing here now.
How this differs from English
English "and" never changes shape based on the verb before it — "read and…," "drink and…," "play and…" all use the same little word, untouched. Japanese instead reshapes the verb's own ending into the connector, and here it even changes the connector's voicing to match. There's nothing like it in English morphology; the closest instinct is how "have to" softens to "hafta" in fast speech, but that's just sloppiness, whereas 読んで is the correct, written form. Treat the voicing as non-negotiable, not optional.
Common mistakes
❌ 図書館で本を読みて、レポートを書いた。
toshokan de hon o yomite, repōto o kaita
Incorrect — む isn't left as a plain stem; it undergoes the nasal change to 読んで.
✅ 図書館で本を読んで、レポートを書いた。
toshokan de hon o yonde, repōto o kaita
I read at the library and wrote my report.
❌ 薬を飲んて、早めに寝た。
kusuri o nonte, hayame ni neta
Incorrect — the nasal shape is right, but the connector must voice: 飲んで, not 飲んて.
✅ 薬を飲んで、早めに寝た。
kusuri o nonde, hayame ni neta
I took some medicine and went to bed early.
❌ タクシーを呼びてください。
takushī o yobite kudasai
Incorrect — 呼ぶ is a ぶ-verb → 呼んで, not 呼びて.
✅ タクシーを呼んでください。
takushī o yonde kudasai
Please call a taxi.
❌ 子供たちが公園で遊んている。
kodomotachi ga kōen de asonte iru
Incorrect — 遊ぶ voices in the te-form: 遊んで + いる → 遊んでいる.
✅ 子供たちが公園で遊んでいる。
kodomotachi ga kōen de asonde iru
The kids are playing in the park.
Key takeaways
- む, ぶ, ぬ → んで — the nasal change (撥音便), one outcome for three endings.
- The connector voices: it is で, never て. This is the whole trap — ×読んて is wrong.
- 死ぬ is the only ぬ-verb in modern Japanese, but it shares んで with む and ぶ, so it costs nothing extra.
- 読んで and 呼んで are both read yonde; the kanji distinguishes them.
- This is the same change as the past た-form's んだ — swap だ↔で. See the て／た parallel.
Now practice Japanese
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Start learning Japanese→Related Topics
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