I ask here my question because I couldn't find anything on internet. My
problem is about 〜くて form for a verb.

I asked a Japanese friend what for example "会いたくて" means. She told me that
there is a complicated nuance behind that... It means

> I want to meet you (but I can't)

I didn't have the opportunity to ask again so I ask here. Could someone
explain to me the usage of 〜くて? I'm so confused (>_<). Especially with the
form which expresses the desire like "食べたい" → "食べたくて".
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usage nuances verbs expressions て-form
〜くて form of a verb
～くて is not an ending for a verb, it is the ~て form of an i-adjective. In your
case the i-adjective formed by the verb 会う + the ending ～たい, where the ending
～たい is translated as "to want to".

The ～て form of a verb, adjective or noun is used as a connective, which can
sometimes be translated simply as "and", but sometimes this "and" can be
interpreted to give a reason for what follows.

Usually it would be something like

```

      会う   >      会いたい　   >       会いたくて
    to meet > to want to meet > to want to meet and (therefore) ...
    
```

For example,

> 会いたくて来た  
>  I came by because I wanted to see you

For 会いたくて, see also

  * [Contrasting 〜てならない、〜てしょうがない and 〜てたまらない](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/2766/1628)
  * [～てたまらない、～てならない、～しようがない](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/59585/1628)
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answer
Well, such a form has several meanings depending on the case. I am going to
provide a brief overview, but it can be helpful. The pattern is always the
same:

> (Verb:ない-Form:Drop->い)くて、(Sentence)

I am going to provide a direct answer for the specific case pointed out in the
question, then, considering that you wanted a generic explanation about the
〜くて form, I am going to post more cases.

# In your specific case...

In your case you have a sentence where the 〜たい form is applied. Such a form
has the following pattern:

> (V:ます-Form:Drop->ます)たい

And is used to express will, intention. For example:

> 行く ==> 行きます ==> 行きたい

Please note that the 〜たい form turns your verb into an い-Adjective. After this,
you apply the 〜くて pattern to the verb/adjective and get the 〜くて form. So what
is the meaning? Among the possible ones, one is the one reported below.

## 〜くて as a conjunction

When used for い-Adjectives, the following pattern:

> (い-Adjective:Drop->い)くて、(Sentence)

Can be used to put together some sentences. For example:

> あのね、石川先生は面白くて、優しくて、ハンサムな人ですよ！ ==> Well, Ishikawa-sensei is interesting, nice
> and a beautiful person.

You can make concatenation of adjectives using this pattern.

### About your answer...

last option I showed in this post (some sort of ellipsis as someone else
described before):

> 会いたくて ==> I want to meet (him/her?)... ==> I want to meet him/her but... ==>
> I would like to meet him/her, but...

For a better comprehension, post the full sentence.

# Other meanings associated to the 〜くて form...

I promised since you asked for a generic answer. Below I listed some other
meanings of the 〜くて form.

## In spoken Japanese, used to leave a certain "negation"-like feeling in the
air

It is used very often in spoken language and in conversations. Consider the
following example where 笑{えみ}子{こ}, a woman working in a shop, is apologizing
because she picked the wrong color for a t-shirt a client wanted to check:

> 笑{えみ}子{こ}さん: あー、ごめんなさい、やはり色が違いますね？ ==> Oh, I am sorry, as I thought the
> color is wrong right?
>
> お客様: じゃなくて、色大丈夫です、サイズは小さすぎるんでしょう！ ==> Well, not really! The problem is the
> size, it is too small!
>
> 笑{えみ}子{こ}さん: そうですか、解りました！ちょっと待って下さい、すぐ見に行きます。Ah! You are right! Please wait
> a moment, I am going to check!

As you can see, _Emiko_ thought one thing, but the problem turned out being a
completely different one.

Consider this different situation:

> お父さん: じゃ、これですね？カバンを買いに行きました。無くしたので、カバンが要ったんじゃない〜 ==> Well, Is this it? I
> went buying a new bag for you, since you lost yours. You needed it right?
>
> 息子さん: えと、要らなくて〜カバンを無くしたけど、そのあと友達に見つけてもらったんですから〜 ==> Well, don't really. I
> didn't lost it, a friend found it for me, so...

Daddy thought his son needed a new bag, but the son told him that it was not
necessary.

In these kinds of situation, when you want to express a little disappointment
and embarass for something not necessary, you use this form.

## To express the cause for something that happened

You can use the same pattern in order to point out the cause for a certain
event to happen. However this form can only be used for verbs in negative
forms. Pattern is:

> (Verb:ない-Form:Drop->い)くて、(Sentence)

Consider the following example:

> 遅くて、ごめんなさい。 ==> Sorry, I was late

The previous is not a sentence really used a lot in spoken language, to say
sorry for being late Japanese use other forms, but sometimes kids use that.
Consider this example as well:

> 何も無くて、よかったね！ ==> Thank god nothing happened!

Or this:

> 課長が何も言わなくて、こわい！ ==> Boss didn't say a single word, he was scary!

## To express something like: "no need of..."

The pattern is the following:

> (Verb:ない-Form:Drop->い)くても、(Sentence)

But Japanese people, only in common conversations and where all people are at
the same level (so no boss, no section manager and so on...), do tend to drop
も from 〜くても, so the pattern can also be:

> (Verb:ない-Form:Drop->い)くて[も]、(Sentence)

Where も in square brackets means: optional. The meaning of this pattern is:
"No need of...". Consider the following example.

> パーティーへ行かなくても、大丈夫ですよ！ ==> Even if I do not go to the party, everything will
> be all right.
>
> プレゼントをもらわなくても、うれしいです。 ==> Even if I did not receive a present, I would be
> happy.

When the sentence is "いいです", so we have the following pattern:

> (Verb:ない-Form:Drop->い)くて[も]、いい[です]

The meaning is: "No need...". Consider the following example:

> 明日は会社に来なくてもいい！ ==> Tomorrow you do not need to come to work.

Or this example:

> 払わなくて、いいですよ！ ==> You don't need to pay! ==> It is ok if you do not pay.

Or this as well:

> 見つけなくても、いいですよ。大切な物じゃないから〜 ==> It's all right if you don't find it, it is not
> something important (referring to something lost).
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`〜くて`'s on the end of verbs at the end of sentences can have a number of
different usages which have different nuances, so I think context here is very
important. I believe that in speech the style of speaking can also change
depending on which usage. The core meaning of it is however "I want to do
(something) and (a connotation of something else which is implied)", which can
change depending on context.

Was there an [ellipsis _character_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellipsis) (as
opposed to [_linguistic_
ellipsis](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellipsis_%28linguistics%29) as pointed
out by @user1205935) after the `会いたくて`, as in `会いたくて…`? If so, I believe it
can change the nuance and I think it could have the meaning of `会いたくて会えない` "I
want to meet (but can't)", but I think `会いたくて。` by itself generally wouldn't
have that meaning, and would be used in situations like "I want to meet (so
I'm going to)" (unless there's some context I'm missing here).

If there was a "but" before it etc, e.g. `でも、会いたくて。` on the other hand I think
it wouldn't need an ellipsis character after it to have that meaning.

(I think I also often see this usage of `〜くて` with some kind of strengthener
before/after it, e.g. `本当に会いたくて…`/`めっちゃ会いたくて…` and can also be doubled for
extra effect in songs etc, e.g. `会いたくて、会いたくて…`).

**Edit:** Tried to make things a bit clearer.
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