Quiz: Three of These Follow the Rule. Only One Is Right.
Which is the correct て-form of 行く?
行って. The other three are not random — each one is what you get by correctly applying a conjugation rule that works for other verbs. That is what makes this question worth two minutes.
みなみは学校へ＿＿＿、日本語を勉強します。
- 1行んでThe ぬ・ぶ・む rule — 読む→読んで. Right rule, wrong row.
- 2行いてThe く rule — 書く→書いて. This is the one almost everyone picks.
- 3行きてて attached straight to the ます-stem 行き. Feels regular, is not.
- 4行ってanswer
Why did you pick the one you picked?
If you chose 行いて, you did the conjugation properly. く-verbs take いて: 書く→書いて, 聞く→聞いて, 歩く→歩いて. There is no version of the rule under which 行く should behave differently — it just does. Picking 行いて means you know the rule and got caught by the single verb that ignores it.
If you chose 行んで, you reached for the ぬ・ぶ・む pattern (読む→読んで, 遊ぶ→遊んで). The ending sound is what decides the て-form, not the meaning, so く never takes んで.
If you chose 行きて, you took the ます-stem 行き and stuck て on it. That is how it works in some older and dialectal Japanese, and it is a reasonable guess — but standard modern Japanese does not form the て-form that way for Group 1 verbs.
So what is the actual rule?
| Verb ending | て-form | Example |
|---|---|---|
| く | いて | 書く → 書いて |
| ぐ | いで | 泳ぐ → 泳いで |
| う・つ・る | って | 待つ → 待って |
| ぬ・ぶ・む | んで | 読む → 読んで |
| す | して | 話す → 話して |
行く borrows って from the う・つ・る row. It is the only everyday verb that does this, along with the rarer 逝く and 往く, which are historically the same word.
Does it spread anywhere else?
Yes — anything built on the て-form inherits the swap, so learning one shape fixes the whole family.
| Form | 書く | 行く |
|---|---|---|
| て-form | 書いて | 行って |
| past plain | 書いた | 行った |
| てから | 書いてから | 行ってから |
| ている | 書いている | 行っている |
A side effect worth knowing: 行った (went) and 言った (said) are both いった in speech. The particle tells them apart — 行った takes a destination with へ or に, 言った takes what was said with と.
Frequently asked questions
Is 行いて ever correct?
No. It is not a form of 行く in modern Japanese. Seeing it in the wild means someone applied the regular く rule.
Are there other Group 1 verbs that break the て-form rule?
Not in everyday use. する and 来る are irregular verbs taught separately; within Group 1, 行く is the exception you need.
How should I practise this one?
Not as a rule — as a word. Drill 行って and 行った as fixed shapes, the way you drilled です, and the rest of the family follows.
What this is based on
- Our dataThis is item q_gf_extra_te-form_2 from our N5 bank. Its three distractors are each derived from a different regular rule, which is why it separates learners who know the rules from learners who know the exceptions.Yatta! question bank · checked 2026-08-11
- Dictionary行く is listed as a Godan verb whose て-form is 行って, marked as an exception to く → いて.Jisho — 行く · checked 2026-08-11
- OfficialN5 covers basic Japanese including the core verb forms, so 行く sits inside that scope.JLPT official — Levels and linguistic competence · checked 2026-08-11