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Compound Sentences

Compound Sentences
In this section, we will learn various ways to combine multiple simple sentences into one complex sentence. For example, we will learn how to chain separate sentences together to express multiple actions or states. In other words, if we have two simple sentences with the same subject, "I ran" and "I ate", we will learn how to group them together to mean, "I ran and ate." We will also learn how to do this with adjectives and nouns. (Ex: He is rich, handsome, and charming.)

Expressing a sequence of states
It is very easy to combine a chain of nouns and adjectives to describe a person or object. For example, in English if we wanted to say, "He is X. He is Y. He is Z." since all three sentences have the same noun, we would usually say, "He is X, Y, and Z." In Japanese, we can do the same thing by conjugating the noun or adjective. The last noun or adjective remains the same as before.

How to chain nouns and adjectives together
Nouns and na-adjectives: Attach 「で」 to the noun or na-adjective.
例）　一般的 → 一般的で
例）　静か → 静かで

I-adjectives and negative noun/adjective: Replace the 「い」 with 「くて」.
※For 「いい」 and 「かっこいい」, the 「い→よ」 exception applies here as well.
例）　狭い → 狭くて
例）　彼女じゃない → 彼女じゃなくて
例）　いい → よくて

Examples
（１）　私の部屋は、きれいで、静かで、とても好き。
- My room is clean, quiet, and I like it a lot.

（２）　彼女は、学生じゃなくて、先生だ。
- She is not a student, she is a teacher.

（３）　田中さんは、お金持ちで、かっこよくて、魅力的ですね。
- Tanaka-san is rich, handsome, and charming, isn't he?

As you can see, the 「で」 attached to 「お金持ち」 obviously cannot be the context particle 「で」 here because there is no verb. It might be helpful to think of 「で」 as merely a substitution for 「だ」 that can be chained together.

Expressing a sequence of verbs with the te-form
In a similar fashion, you can express multiple actions. It is usually interpreted as a sequence of event. (I did [X], then I did [Y], then I finally did [Z].) There are two forms: positive and negative. The tense of all the actions is determined by the tense of the last verb.

How to chain verbs together
Positive: Conjugate the verb to its past tense and replace 「た」 with 「て」 or 「だ」 with 「で」. This is often called the te-form even though it could sometimes be 'de' .
Negative: Same as i-adjectives, replace 「い」 with 「くて」.
This rule also works for the polite 「です」 and 「ます」 endings.
例）　学生です → 学生でした → 学生でして
例）　買います → 買いました → 買いまして

Sample conjugations
Past Tense Te-form
食べた 食べて
行った 行って
した して
遊んだ 遊んで
飲んだ 飲んで
      
Negative Te-form
食べない 食べなくて
行かない 行かなくて
しない しなくて
遊ばない 遊ばなくて
飲まない 飲まなくて

Examples
（１）　食堂に行って、昼ご飯を食べて、昼寝をする。
- I will go to cafeteria, eat lunch, and take a nap.

（２）　食堂に行って、昼ご飯を食べて、昼寝をした。
- I went to cafeteria, ate lunch, and took a nap.

（３）　時間がありまして、映画を見ました。
- There was time and I watched a movie.

Expressing reason or causation using 「から」 and 「ので」
You can connect two complete sentences using 「から」 to indicate a reason for something. The two sentences are always ordered [reason] から [result]. When the reason is a non-conjugated noun or na-adjective, you must add 「だ」 to explicitly declare the reason in the form of 「(noun/na-adjective)だから」. If you forget to add the declarative 「だ」 to 「から」, it will end up sounding like the 「から」 meaning "from" which was first introduced.

Examples
（１）　時間がなかったからパーティーに行きませんでした。
- There was no time so didn't go to party.

（２）　友達からプレゼントが来た。
- Present came from friend.

（３）　友達だからプレゼントが来た。
- Present came because (the person is) friend. (This sentence sounds a bit odd.)