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I learned that the reason why て and た forms conjugate the way they do is because of a phenomenon known as 音便. And I know that 音便 happens because it's easier to say the word this way.
However, what is easier to say with 音便? For example, 使って has been 音便される, right? S what would it have been if 音便 did not occur?
My guess is that it must be one of the six forms (連体、連用、終止、未然、仮定、命令) + て, with the 連体 and 連用 being the most probable. My guess would be something like 使いて or 使うて. Are my guesses right?
Please see this chart for the non-音便 version. As you can see, this type of 音便 appears in the te/ta-form of most consonant-stem (aka godan) verbs.
Actually these non-音便 version was commonly used in classical Japanese, and is still used as part of the polite masu-form. For example, 使って was 使いて in classical Japanese (or 使ひて in the historical kana orthography). This 使っ is a 連用形 of 使う. Japanese people think 使い and 使っ are the two variations of 連用形, the latter being the 音便 version of the former. See this question for more details.
