In the exercise section of the chapter on potentials in my textbook, the
answer to the question "kimono wo, kaimashita ka?" is given as "iie,
takasugite kaemasen deshita." Unfortunately, in neither the discussion
covering -te forms or potentials is the reasoning explained. Does the
potential in this case necessitate the usage of "takasugite"? Also, does it
forbid the use of "kara", as in "takasugite kara kaemasen deshita"
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-08-05T22:13:55.523
26203
2015-08-05T23:06:55.393
10644
question
て-form
How to explain the use of the -te form in "takasugite kaemasen"?
て can be used to concatenate some verbs in a single sentence. For example:

  * 行って来ます。I go and will return.
  * 食べすぎて眠くなりました。I ate too much and became sleepy.

すぎる represents over states and actions. For example:

  * 食べすぎる too much eat
  * 高すぎる too high

~てから is used to concatenate verbs with temporal. For example:

  * 食べてから寝ます。I go to bed after eating.

If you want to say "Because the price is too high, I cannot buy it.", the
proper use of から is as follows.

> 高すぎるから買えません。
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-08-05T22:31:28.480
26206
2015-08-05T22:46:26.107
2015-08-05T22:46:26.107
9896
9896
26203
answer
高い｛たかい｝(takai) is 'to be expensive'. To say something is **too** expensive, or
**too much** of any i-adjective, we remove the final i and add すぎる (sugiru).
This makes a new verb 高すぎる｛たかすぎる｝(takasugiru) which means 'to be **too**
expensive).

Now we can manipulate this new verb just like any other verb. In particular we
can change it in to the て-form to give 高すぎて｛たかすぎて}(takasugite). In its
simplest interpretation て just acts like 'and', so the full sentence becomes

> No, it was too expensive **and** I couldn't buy it.

But this 'and' implies causality just like it would in English so it is
equivalent to using 'because'.

Your final suggestion "takasugite kara kaemasen deshita" doesn't make sense
because "verb-te kara" mean " **after** doing verb" so in this case "after too
expensive". You could say "takasugiru kara ..." to mean "because it is too
expensive". This would have an equivalent meaning.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-08-05T22:55:50.087
26207
2015-08-05T23:06:55.393
2015-08-05T23:06:55.393
7944
7944
26203
answer