Grammar Info

N4 Lesson 7: 3/18

～てもらうTo get someone to do, To have someone do

Structure

Verb［て］+ もらう

Politeness Levels

Details

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    Polite

  • Rare Kanji

    貰う

About てもらう

Being slightly more direct than てくれる, てもらう removes the meaning of 'to bestow' (to the speaker), and focuses on the meaning of 'to receive' (from the giver). With てもらう, に will mark the person that 'did something' for the subject, while が (or は) will highlight the receiver themselves.

In English, this grammar structure is regularly translated as 'to have (someone) do (A) for you', or 'to get (someone) to do (A) for you'. Literally, it means 'to receive the action of (A)'.

てもらう is also regularly used when receiving a service from someone, as てくれる would imply that the action was a favor.

Examples

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    私(わたし)は母(はは)に宿題(しゅくだい)をしてもらった。

    I had my mom do my homework (for me).

    クリスマスに犬(いぬ)を買(か)ってもらうかもしれない。

    I might have (someone) buy me a dog for Christmas.

    （誰(だれ)かに）この仕事(しごと)を手伝(てつだ)ってもらう。

    I will get someone to help with this work.

    ユカは誰(だれ)かに手伝(てつだ)ってもらったかもしれない。

    Yuka might have gotten someone to help her.

    まず掃除(そうじ)をしてもらうと思(おも)う。

    First I think I will have you clean (for me).

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てもらう – Grammar Discussion

Most Recent Replies (25 in total)

  • Yumari-1

    Yumari-1

    Thanks a bunch for this explanation, it actually cleared up lots of confusion for me. The stacking of constructs to basically from

    The speaker (A) asks someone else (B) to もらう the action of 傘を持って行く

    can be kind of daunting, but it helps to dig into these kinds of sentences for later stages of learni...

  • shroud41

    shroud41

    From the “about” section at the top of the page:

    てもらう is also regularly used when receiving a service from someone, as てくれる would imply that the action was a favor.

    But then the two following sentences use てもらう and てくれる, and … I can’t tell the difference between the meaning of the two sentences. What am I missing?

    昨日きのうは朝あさから頭あたまが痛いたかったから医者いしゃに見みてもらった。
    Because my head hurt since the morning yesterday, I had a doctor look at it.

    朝あさから頭あたまが痛いたかったから病院びょういんに行いって、医者いしゃが見みてくれた。
    Because I had a headache since this morning, I went to the doctor and he checked it out for me.

  • casual

    casual

    Well, the meaning, as in events that objectively happened, are the same: the doctor looked at/consulted the speaker about the headache.

    Just the nuance of the speaker’s attitude is different.

    With (A)にしてもらった the speaker is talking more about a service that’s expected to be preformed, about some sort of obligation. The doctors are expected to treat everyone equally, and you also pay for the service through taxes or insurance, this kind of idea.

    With (A)がしてくれた the speaker is talking more about something done out of kindness of the heart, regardless of any obligations. The doctor was very kind to look at the issue in detail, he didn’t just stop at a perfunctory check, but actually tried to help.
    It’s also just a generally kinder way to phrase it when both ways of thinking are possible.

    Sometimes either construction can apply to a given situation, sometimes one of the constructions doesn’t make a lot of sense.

    For example, you would not seriously s...

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