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I am trying to understand something from the N4 and N5 practice test book. I
think the sentence has revealed a gap in my understanding of the use of 「-て」
verb conjugation.

The complete sentence is:

> きのうはうちに（ かえって ）何をしましたか

(where the bracketed part was to be filled, and I have inserted the correct
answer).

Word for word, I would translate this as:

  * きのう - Yesterday
  * うち - Home
  * かえって - Returning (or something similar)
  * 何 - What
  * しました - Doing

But I am having trouble understanding the meaning as a whole; I think this is
down the use of the 「-て」 verb. Some ideas for a rough translation are:

> Yesterday, I/you returned home by what method?
>
> Yesterday, I/you returned home and did what?
>
> Yesterday, what happened when returning home?

None of these really seem likely. What am I missing here?
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2012-11-28T11:08:04.010
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2012-11-28T15:13:47.927
2020-06-17T08:18:27.500
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question
jlpt て-form
Uses of the 「-て」 conjugation of verbs
The ~て form can be used to chain sentences together. That is, any two
sentences can be made into one by changing the verb of the first sentence into
its ~て form. The result can be translated with the conjunction `and` and means
that the first sentence happens and then the second.

In your case

> きのうはうちにかえりました。何をしましたか。  
>  Yesterday you went home. What did you do?

becomes

> きのうはうちにかえって、何をしましたか。  
>  Yesterday you went home and what did you do? _or better_  
>  What did you do after going home yesterday?
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-11-28T11:37:40.927
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2012-11-28T11:37:40.927
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answer