Verbs of giving and receiving
あげる
もらう
くれる
To give (from the point of view
of a speaker)
To receive
To give (from the point of
view of a giver)
Person-receiver (or an object
considered as an animate one) +
に+object を+ あげる
Sphere of usage:
From the first person to the
second and third;
From the third person to the
third person
Person-giver + に/から
+objectを+ もらう
Person-giverは+me/usに
+objectを+くれる
Sphere of usage:
From the second and 3 person
to anyone
もらう is never used with the
1st person pronouns as an
actor (marked with に)
私に日本語を教えてもらっ
た×
For example:
Sphere of usage:
From the second and third
person to the first person
きむらさんはやまださんに
はなをもらいました。
Kimura-san received
flowers from Yamadasan.
やまださんはかぶきのチケ
ットをくれました。
Yamada-san gave me tickets
to a kabuki play.
For example:
やまださんはきむらさんに
はなをあげました。
Yamada-san presented flowers
to Kimura-san.
For example:
However, this table is not a complete guide how to use Japanese verbs of giving and
receiving. First, we need to note, that in Japanese there is no such grammatical category as ,person’.
Instead of this category, the Japanese use the concept of inner and outer circles of connections
(‘soto-uchi’ concept). ‘Uchi’ is our inner circle of connections, ‘me and my family, closest friends, a
place where I work’, ‘us’. On the other hand, ‘soto’ is an outer circle, ‘not us’. There are a lot of
books published on this topic, and we would like to recommend you to read a chapter from ‘The
Japanese Mind: Understanding Contemporary Japanese Culture’ by Davies Roger J., Ikeno Osamu,
2002.
As for the connections of the grammar and the concept, we have to replace our ‘person’
understanding of grammatical connection to the ‘perception in circles’.
1) As for ‘ageru’, this verb is used to mark a relation of giving from ‘uchi’ to ‘soto’, inside
‘soto’ and from ‘me’ inside ‘uchi’:
‘I’ → ‘uchi’ (e.g. from me to my sister)
‘I’ → ‘soto’ (e.g. from me to Mr. Tanaka)
‘uchi’ → ‘soto’ (e.g. from my sister to Mr. Tanaka)
‘soto’ → ‘soto’ (e.g. frim Mr. Tanaka to Mr. Yamada)
‘Ageru’ has a polite synonym in so-called ‘humble speech’ (jp. 謙譲語, kenjougo). In humble,
speech ‘ageru’ is replaced with ‘sashiageru’. This verb is used when an action is forwarded to a
person higher in position than the actor of the action.
Also, ‘ageru’ has a synonym which describes an action forwarded from us to someone lower
in position -- ‘yaru’ (usually used when speaking about younger siblings or animals and plants, but
somehow can be used to show disrespect).
However, it is considered impolite to use this verb, as it sounds like we are waiting for some
appreciation for our actions. Let’s not use it too much when we speak about our own actions.
2) As for ‘morau’, this verb means any kind of receiving apart from receiving from ‘me’ (we
have to change the grammatical structure to ‘ageru’ pattern if we want to focuse on the fact that
someone received something from ‘me’). The polite (humble) synonym for ‘morau’ is ‘itadaku’.
3) Finally, ‘kureru’ is a verb to describe actions of giving, but forwarded to ‘me’ and ‘uchi’ or
to ‘me’ inside ‘uchi’:
‘uchi’ → ‘me’ (e.g. from my sister to me)
‘soto’ → ‘me’ (e.g. from Mr. Tanaka to me)
‘soto’ → ‘uchi’ (e.g. from Mr. Tanaka to my sister)
Unlike the verbs ‘ageru’ and ‘morau’, ‘kureru’ does not have a ‘humble’ synonym, but does
have a one from the ‘respectful speech’ (jp. 尊敬語, sonkeigo) -- ‘kudasaru’.
Nominative case marker が
Since in the most Indo-European languages the topic is hardly ever marked morphologically
(although the articles in English, French, etc. are used to mark new/old information as well), we
need to understand, that the concept of the topic has nothing to do with a syntactic structure of a
sentence and the topic marker は can actually mark any part of it. The fastest way to learn how to
tell the topic apart from the subject is to study the most common cases of using は and が.
1. Nominative case marker が
Nominative case marker が is used to show the connections between a subject and a predicate in a
sentence: the simplest case is [Subjectが P r e d i c a t e ]. The most common cases are:
1) A subject inside the subordinate close of a complex sentence:
父がい酒を飲むとき、(私は）付き合う。ー When my dad drinks I drink with him.
2) A subject expressed with an interrogative pronoun (and in a response respectively):
ーどれがほんですか。ーWhich one is a book?
ーこれがほんです。ー This one is a book.
3) A subject which is a new topic:
・・・ちなみに、来月妹が日本に来る予定です。ー By the way, my smaller sister is
planning to visit Japan next month.
4) An object in phrases with a verb in the desiderative form (-たい form) or in the potential
form:
イチゴが食べたいです。ー I want to eat some strawberries.
5) A subject in a sentence with a predicate expressing a continuing action (-ている form):
川で魚が泳いでいます。ー A fish is (swimming) in the river (and we are watching this
fish).
6) A subject in a sentence with a predicate ある or いる or a subject in a sentence with ‘a
matter of fact’ information:
机の上に本があります。ー There is a book on the table. However, 本は机の上にありま
す is translated as ‘The book is on the table’ because in this sentence ‘the book’ is marked
as a topic. That means, that we are talking about a particular book (in other words, it is not
just a sentence about the current state of affairs, but a statement about a particular thing
which a conversation partner is interested in).
The subject marked with a nominative case does not equal the topic marked with は.
2. Topic marker は
When we use は to mark our subject, it means, that at the same time it is also a topic
of the sentence. Topic is information in the sentence, which is already known from the context or
was mentioned before (see the example 6 of the previous paragraph). In other words, new
(=important) information is located in the second part of the sentence (=in the predicate).
Also, は particle can be attached to subordinate parts of the sentence, so these parts
become a topic. For the translation we can use such patterns as ‘As for...’or ‘What is about...’
The most common cases are:
1) When we want to contrast something against something:
私はお魚は好きですが、お肉はあまり好きじゃありません。ー I love fish, but don’t really like
meat.
This way of using は particle works not only inside one sentence, but more inside the whole
text (topic is not a category applicable to a syntactic structure of a sentence).
2) In negations:
田中さんは富士山に登ったことはありません。ー (As for) Mr. Tanaka has never climbed
Mount Fuji.
3) General truth statements:
地球は、太陽系の惑星である。ー The Earth is a planet of the Solar system.
Verbs 'ARU’ and ‘IRU’
ある
1. 「箱の中に、何がありますか。」–
「本があります。」 What is inside the
いる
1. 「きょうしつはだれがいますか。」–「
ワンさんがいます。」ー Who is inside the
box? – There are books.
classroom? ー Mr. Wan is.
2. 「パンチがありますか。」–「はい、
2. 「箱の中に、何がいますか。」–「こ
あります。」／「いいえ、ありません。
ねこがいま す。」 ー
」– Do you have an eyelet puncher? – Yes, I
box? ー It’s a kitten.
have. / No, I don’t have any.
What’s inside the
3. わたしはあねがいます。ー I have an elder
3. わたしはあかいくるまがあります。– I
sister.
h a v e a r e d ca r.
Fixed expressions with が
1. Noun+ が + わかる。
To understand or to know something. Accusative case particle を is not used.
せつめい が わかる。 ー (I) understand the explanation.
フランスごが分かります。ー (I) understand (know) French.
1. Noun+ が + (だい) すき/ (だい) きらい+ copula verb.
To like/hate something/someone. This grammar construction is used when we talk
about our feelings or ask a conversation partner about his or her feelings. It’s not
used when we talk about the 3rd person’s tastes.
勉強が(だい) すき
or (だい) きらいです。ー
I love/ hate studying.
私はイタリア料理が好きです。
I like the Italian cuisine.
田中さんがさんがすきです。
a romantic way).
I like Mr. Tanaka (not necessarily in
2. Noun+ が +じょうず/へ た + copula verb.
To be good/not good at something. This pattern is not used when we speak about
ourselves . To explain our weak and strong points we would rather use とくい (strong
point) and にがて (weak point)
「サントスさんはにほんごがじょうずですね。」 ー
「いいえ、まだまだです。」ー Mr. Santos, your Japanese is so good! ー Oh no, not
yet.
3. Noun (an owner) + は＋A noun (an owned item)が +は ＋ A p r e d i c a t e .
ぞうははながながいです – An elephant has a long trunk.
All these grammatical structures describe a situation, when a particular feature ‘belongs’ to
someone.