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Someone asked me:

> どんな本を使っ **て** 日本語を勉強していますか

I'm confused about the て-form here. The only sensible translation I can think
of is:

> What kind of books do you use (in order) to study Japanese

I've not come across て-form to indicate purpose before. Is this common? How
does it differ from のに?
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2016-09-18T07:17:30.687
39274
2016-09-18T17:28:53.160
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question
grammar て-form conjunctions
Using て-form to indicate purpose
Your translation is perfect, but I think て is not indicating purpose. It
rather means method.

More verbatim translation is:

> **By** using what kind of books do you study Japanese?

" **By** " at the top of the sentence comes from て-form.

Related dictionary entry (quoted from デジタル大辞泉):

>
> ［接助］活用語の連用形に付く。ガ・ナ・バ・マ行の五段活用動詞の音便形に付く場合は「で」となる。形容詞、形容詞型助動詞に付く場合は「って」の形をとることもある。
>
> 手段・方法を表す。「歩い―通学する」「泣い―抗議する」

In this sentence the purpose is to study Japanese but not to use books. So you
can use のに (that indeed means purpose) to say the same as follows:

> 日本語を勉強する **のに** どんな本を使っていますか。
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2016-09-18T07:35:32.390
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2016-09-18T07:35:32.390
2020-06-17T08:18:27.500
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answer
> どんな本を使って日本語を勉強していますか

This (the TE-form) is similar to the following (手段・方法) :

> 駅からは歩いて十分ぐらいです。

<https://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/38582/16344>

I think 歩いて is like 現在分詞 ( "walking" in English ), and it could be an adj. or
adverb. ( --> Actually "歩いての" is the adj. form. )

使って -- adv.

使っての -- adj.
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2016-09-18T17:28:53.160
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answer