Giving verbs – kureru, ageru

written on April 15, 2010 in Japanese

Hi and welcome to Japanese with Jenny! In this post I’ll be talking about the 3 Japanese giving verbs — kureru,  ageru, morau — and how to use them alone and with conjugated -te form verbs.

Kureru

This means that someone else gives something to you (or someone in your in-group) for your benefit.  If the giver is of a higher rank or status (ex. your teacher or boss), then you use kudasaru instead. The sentence pattern is as follows:

Giver + ga/wa + receiver + ni + object given + o + kureru/kudasaru.

When /receiver + ni/ is omitted, it implies that the speaker is the receiver. So for example:

Takashi-kun ga Sayuri-chan ni hana o kureru. || Takashi gave Sayuri flowers (for her benefit).
Sensei ga hon o kudasaru. ||  The teacher gave me a book (for my benefit).

Ageru

This means that you (or someone in your in-group) gives something to someone else for their benefit.  If the receiver is of a higher rank or status (ex. your teacher or boss), then you use sashiageru¹ instead. If the receiver is of the same or lower rank (ex. your younger brother a pet), you use yaru. The sentence pattern is as follows:

Giver + ga/wa + receiver + ni + object given + o + ageru/sashiageru/yaru.

When /giver + ga/ is omitted, it implies that the speaker is the giver. So for example:

Ueki ni mizu o yaru. || I water the plants. (lit. I give the plants water for their benefits.)
Sensei ni  shukudai o sashiageru. ||  I give the teacher my homework (for his benefits).

Te-form verbs + kureru/ageru

Instead of simply giving an object, now an action is given. In other words, the verb in te-form is performed for someone (and their benefit), depending on whether ageru or kureru is used. An object can still be involved, but the focus is now on the action performed (te-form verb). The sentence pattern are as follows:

Giver + ga/wa + receiver + ni + object given + o + te-form verb + kureru/kudasaru.
Giver + ga/wa + receiver + ni + object given + o + te-form ver + ageru/yaru.

Again, when /giver + ga/ is omitted for ageru or when /receiver + ni/ is omitted for kureru, it implies that the speaker is the giver/receiver. So for example:

Takashi-kun ga hana o katte kureru. || Takashi buys me flowers (for my benefit).
Sayuri-chan ni tizu o kaite ageru. || I draw a map for Sayuri (and her benefit).

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