Textbook Japanese teaches you 食べている. Real Japanese — on X, Threads, in texts, in anime — says 食べてる. The gap between the two is a handful of contractions that smash the て form together with the small helper verbs that follow it. Learn the pattern once and you'll start hearing it everywhere.
The key insight: every contraction below is just て form + an auxiliary, spoken fast. So if the て form is shaky, start with our complete て-form guide — it makes the rest click.
ている → てる (the most common one)
Drop the い from いる and you get てる. This is probably the single contraction you'll meet most.
- 食べる（たべる）→ 食べている → 食べてる — "is eating"
- 飲む（のむ）→ 飲んでいる → 飲んでる — "is drinking"
- 今何してる？ — "What are you doing now?" (している → してる)
Polite version: ています also loses its い → てます. 食べてます。
てしまう → ちゃう / じゃう (the "oops" form)
てしまう means "finish doing" or "end up doing," and it often carries a whiff of regret — "I ate the whole thing," "I ended up buying it." In speech it contracts hard, and the shape depends on whether the て form ends in て or で:
- て + しまう → ちゃう: 食べてしまう → 食べちゃう
- で + しまう → じゃう: 飲んでしまう → 飲んじゃう
Examples in the wild:
- もう食べちゃった。 — "I already ate it (oops / all of it)." (食べてしまった)
- ごめん、メール送っちゃった。 — "Sorry, I sent the email." (送ってしまった)
- 買っちゃった。 — "I ended up buying it."
A rougher, more masculine variant swaps ちゃ/じゃ for ちま/じま: 食べちまう、飲んじまう. You'll hear this in anime and manga more than real life.
Polite: てしまいます → ちゃいます / じゃいます. 食べちゃいます。
ておく → とく / どく (the "in advance" form)
ておく means "do something in advance" or "leave something in a state for now." Contracted:
- て + おく → とく: 食べておく → 食べとく
- で + おく → どく: 飲んでおく → 飲んどく
Examples:
- 宿題やっといた。 — "I did the homework in advance." (やっておいた)
- これ、払っとくね。 — "I'll pay for this now (so it's done)." (払っておく)
- 予約しといたよ。 — "I made the reservation for us."
Polite: ておきます → ときます / どきます. 食べときます。
てあげる → たげる (the casual favor — use with care)
てあげる means "do something as a favor for someone." Its contraction, たげる, is more casual and can sound a bit patronizing — like you're talking down to the person receiving the favor.
- 食べてあげる → 食べたげる — "(casually) I'll eat it for you"
- 手伝ってあげる → 手伝ったげる — "I'll help you out"
In real life, Japanese speakers often avoid あげる/たげる toward equals or superiors entirely and rephrase. It's useful to recognize, but reach for it carefully.
The pattern, summarized
Once you've got the て form, the contractions are mechanical:
| Full form | Contracts to | て ending | で ending | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 〜ている | 〜てる / でる | 食べてる | 飲んでる | | 〜てしまう | 〜ちゃう / じゃう | 食べちゃう | 飲んじゃう | | 〜ておく | 〜とく / どく | 食べとく | 飻んどく | | 〜てあげる | 〜たげる / だげる | 食べたげる | 飲んだげる |
The thread running through all of them: the て / で ending blends into the following syllable. て becomes ちゃ (before し) or と (before お); で becomes じゃ or ど.
Where you'll see them
These contractions are the default register of social media, manga, anime, lyrics, and casual speech. A tweet that reads 「もう寝ちゃった🐍 バイバイ」is just もう寝てしまった ("I'm already off to bed"). If you've ever felt like textbook Japanese and internet Japanese are different languages, contractions are a big reason why. For more words you'll only see online, see our Japanese internet slang guide.
A word on register
These forms are casual. Perfect for friends, texts, and timelines. In business emails, formal writing, or talking to someone you'd address as です・ます without a prior relationship, use the full forms (ている, てしまう, ておく). The contraction is a friendliness signal — and in the wrong context it reads as sloppy or rude.
Common mistakes
- Writing ちゃう in a business email. Too casual — use てしまう.
- Forgetting the で → じゃ version. 飲んでしまう doesn't become 飲んちゃう; it becomes 飲んじゃう.
- Treating ちゃう like a separate verb. It's always てしまう underneath — the meaning (regret, completion) travels with it.
- Overusing たげる. It can sound condescending; when in doubt, rephrase.
The takeaway
てる、ちゃう、とく、たげる — four little contractions that unlock a huge chunk of real, spoken-and-typed Japanese. Get the て / で → ちゃ / じゃ (and と / ど) sound change into your ear, and the internet starts making a lot more sense.
Contracts like these are exactly where textbook Japanese and real Japanese drift apart. Paste any tweet, comment, or line into Shiritai and get the full grammar, kanji, and vocabulary breakdown — contractions expanded and explained in context.