[Shadowulf]

haha yeah, iv enever seen it before as well
in fact, i learnt -te/-de forms from speaking to a native japanese speaker so i dont excatly use a 'formula'

it just takes practise, both writing, reading, and even thinking (err at school sometimes i think in japanese and then i speak in english o_O" weird..)
writing out sentences is the best way to practise them though imo
just write out sentences using verbs and sentence structures that uses the -te form and stuff
eventually you should reach the stage where you dont even think about "-te form" or "dictionary form" or stuff like that