Is there a difference between these two sentences
昨日はビールを飲んでパイを食べました。
昨日はビールを飲みパイを食べました。
More generally, when should I choose one form over the other?
asked Apr 15, 2015 at 17:28
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2 Answers
EDIT:
So it seems my original answer was incorrect. For the semantics of ～て linkage, please see this article (many thanks to @snailboat).
Regarding the actual question, I believe verb stems and ～て are very similar (perhaps interchangeable) in terms of semantics. However, according to my textbook (titled Tobira: Gateway to Advanced Japanese Learning through Content and Multimedia) and Kyle's answer, the verb stem is associated with formality and as such, it is more often seen in formal writing.
If you would like to imply or emphasize the ordering of a sequence of activities, a ~てから construct can be used (there are other options too).
朝【あさ】ご飯【はん】を食【た】べてテレビを見【み】ました。
"subject ate breakfast and watched TV. (in no particular order)"
朝【あさ】ご飯【はん】を食【た】べテレビを見【み】ました。
"subject ate breakfast and watched TV. (in no particular order)"
朝【あさ】ご飯【はん】を食【た】べてからテレビを見【み】ました。
"after eating breakfast, subject watched TV."
Original (Incorrect!) Answer
The first sentence:
昨日はビールを飲んでパイを食べました。
implies that you drank beer, and then ate pie.
On the other hand, the second sentence:
昨日はビールを飲みパイを食べました。
does not imply anything about the order in which you performed the two actions. It could be translated as "drank beer and ate pie", or "ate pie and drank beer".
In other words, using ~て to join sentences implies temporal ordering. As a result, it is usually used to convey a sequence of actions, whether they take place in the past, present, or future.
See this answer
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1～て does not always imply sequential actions, it is also used for concurrent actions and states. It is rather vague. If you want to express temporal ordering without fail, you can use ～たら form, or 後.– firtreeCommented Apr 15, 2015 at 22:47
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2Recommended reading: socrates.berkeley.edu/~hasegawa/TE-Linkage/TE-linkage.html– user1478Commented Apr 16, 2015 at 8:38
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1@snailboat Cool paper! Do you have a PDF version of it, for easier reading and printing? P.S. I've found it myself, it's hasegawa.berkeley.edu/Papers/TE.pdf– firtreeCommented Apr 16, 2015 at 15:57
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1Straight out of that Berkeley link: "It is frequently claimed in the literature that one of the major uses of TE-linkage is to express temporal sequence or consecutiveness . . . . In this section, it is argued to the contrary that temporal sequence [] cannot be expressed by TE-linkage. "– KyleCommented Apr 17, 2015 at 5:20
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2@Kyle Yes, I read the article. I hope my answer doesn't still imply that.. In any case, I do admittedly support your answer (and voted accordingly). Commented Apr 17, 2015 at 19:14
The conjunctive form (aka pre-ます form) sounds more dry/learned/erudite/scholarly/formal. I hate all of those adjectives to describe it, but I think you know what I mean. It's of a higher register than the て form.
