～てくれるTo do something for someone (usually you)

Receiver's point of view

Structure

Verb［て］+ くれる
Verb［ないで］+ くれる

Politeness Levels

Details

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Polite
Rare Kanji
呉れる

About てくれる

The verb 呉(く)れる in Japanese, is very similar to 与(あた)える (to bestow). The primary difference is that 呉(く)れる (primarily written in hiragana) means to 'bestow to the speaker' (or someone in the speakers inner circle).

In this way, てくれる is the opposite of てあげる, which conveys that someone (usually the speaker) gives (an action) to another person that is outside of their inner circle. てくれる is commonly translated as 'would you do (A) for me', as a question, or 'someone did (A) for me', as a statement.

When asking for a favor, てくれる can be shortened to てくれ. However, this is very casual, and should not be used with strangers (or anyone that you do not know well). As an English equivalent, てくれ sounds similar to phrases like 'would ya do (A)', or 'could ya do (A)?'

Fun Fact

てくれる is one of the most casual ways to ask for a favor, with てもらう being slightly more polite. ていただく (the humble speech variation of てくれる) is even more polite than either of these!

Antonyms

Examples

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あのグラスをここに持(も)ってきてくれる？

Would you bring me that glass?

この漢字(かんじ)の意味(いみ)を教(おし)えてくれますか。

Would you teach me the meaning of this kanji? (for me)

私(わたし)を愛(あい)してくれますか。

Will you love me? (do me the favor of)

ママが書(か)きやすいペンをかってくれた。

My mom bought a pen that is easy to write with. (For me)

喋(しゃべ)らないで黙(だま)って行(い)ってくれますか。

Could you not talk, shut up and go? (for me)

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Online
- Asking favors with 「くれる」 or 「もらえる」
  Tae Kim
- てあげる vs てくれる vs てもらう
  Japanese Ammo 🎦

Offline
- [DBJG] A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar
  Page 216
- Genki II 1st Edition
  Page 34 & 74
- Genki II 2nd Edition
  Page 56 & 100
- Tae Kim's Japanese Grammar Guide
  Page 172
- みんなの日本語 I
  Page 152 [CH 24]
- みんなの日本語 II
  Page 114 [CH 43]
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てくれる – Grammar Discussion

Most Recent Replies (35 in total)

Jake
Do something for someone (usually you)
Structure
- Verb[て] + くれる
View on Bunpro
seanblue
Why is there blue? I’ve never seen that before.
deltacat3
Its a link directed to a grammar point that has appeared before it’s lesson.
To help avoid confusion if you are following the Bunpro lessons order.

I believe its only a temporary fix, until new sentences are created or changed,
to only include grammar that has been introduced. ^_^!
seanblue
That’s… bizarre. Especially since I already know that grammar point.
deltacat3
Ikr, it showed up for me before and after I got to that lesson. I guess it doesn’t
do a check to see if the user has completed said lesson and hide itself.
Aythreuk
Pushindawood
@Aythreuk Hey! Thank you for letting us know about this! I have updated the sentence to use the correct verb in the hint. We will get new audio recorded for this sentence soon. Cheers!
CrisH
I have a couple of questions about the example sentences here…hopefully they’re not stupid ones!
In スーパーに行ったら、牛乳を買ってきてくれる？ I can’t tell what きて is doing. Does it turn “buy some milk for me” into a sort of “buy-bring some some milk to me” hybrid?
And in サンタさん、何を持って来てくれたの？ I’m not certain why the の is necessary. Is it because the sentence is grammatically something like “Santa-brought-me-thing (サンタさん…持って来てくれたの) is what (何を)” so without the の it would be something like “Santa brought me is what”?
Pushindawood
@CrisH

hopefully they’re not stupid ones

There’s no such thing!

Let’s focus on 来る for your first question. くる always describes something that is coming towards the speaker or who the speaker is talking about. Therefore, words like 買ってくる (buy and come) and 持ってくる (hold and come) describe things that are being bought and brought and things that are being held and brought respectively towards the speaker. Changing くる to the polite command form, “きて,” makes 牛乳を買ってきて mean “(go and) buy milk and come (back).” Add くれる to make it a request and you have 牛乳を買ってきてくれる, “would you (go and) buy milk and come (back for me)?”

の is just abbreviated のです. It makes the question more inquisitive as the speaker is expecting that the listener will provide an explanation or more details about what is be...
CrisH
Thanks for that - very helpful
So, say if you were at work and called your partner to ask them to get milk for the household, presumably you wouldn’t use that then? But you might if you were at home and called them? Could you say 牛乳を買って帰ってくれるか。 Do you need a question marker for these requests? Although that does sound like an odd thing to specify, I’ll admit!
Pushindawood
@CrisH

So, say if you were at work and called your partner to ask them to get milk for the household, presumably you wouldn’t use then then?

That’s right! Since your partner is not coming towards you, but towards home.

Could you say 牛乳を買って帰ってくれるか。

This is OK. However, it is better to omit か or use the polite ますか at the end. Using か with the plain form (dictionary form) of the verb can sound a bit rude. Since you are talking with your partner (significant other), this would be acceptable, but still sound a bit rough/masculine. Cheers!
CrisH
Cool, thanks. I keep meaning to try and default to the polite forms!
Ambo100
image.png740×216 41.6 KB

DBJG listed twice. ...
mrnoone
Hey

The double has been removed, and resources has been listed alphabetically!

Cheers!
Ambo100
I noticed there is also a third resource with no link (just a checkbox)
wjomlex
I’m a bit confused by

サンタさん、何なにを もってきてくれた の？[持もってくる]

It says “receiver’s point of view”, but it’s not the receiver who’s asking this, right? Otherwise I’d expect the sentence to be “What did Santa bring for me?”
larrydeluca
Can someone clarify the difference between もらうand くれる？ As I understand it both are from the view of the receiver, both are within your UCHI group, and もらう carries an additional inflection of pleasure or gratitude.

BunPro has no readings or grammar points liked to てくれる。 Obviously I’m going to hit Tae Kim again, but the online resources I find all cover
different aspects of the elephant without describing the elephant itself, as it were.

ありがとう！
matt_in_mito
Simply, もらう means ‘to receive’ and くれる means ‘to give’.
田中さんは本をもらった - Mr. Tanaka received a book.
田中さんは本をくれた - Mr. Tanaka gave a book (to me or to my uchi)
I shared a video a long time ago that makes this grammar point super easy to understand. Have a look here.
Eloeri
matt_in_mito
The sentence ending particle か works like a question mark. So generally you wouldn’t have a か and a question mark in the same sentence, you would simply have a 。.
公園に行きますか。
公園に行く？
So the presence of a question mark in the example sentence indicates whether you should have か.