Unlocking The Mysteries of "Kureru"...

[Animatrixie]

I'm relatively new to the grammatical structure of Japanese, so my first instinct when I hear a new word is to look it up in the dictionary. When I look up "kureru" I see "to give, to end, to get dark"....Fair enough...

BUT

When I actually hear this word, it's generally at the end of sentences, in the form of "-kurete" or "-kureta"....It seems to be connected to other verbs, that way. I mean, I get it about the tenses in those examples, it's the MEANING I'm a bit unclear on, when "kureru" is joined with other verbs. Can anyone please give a few examples of common verbs connected to "kureru" so I can understand what it is used for in those instances? I hear it all the time in conversation, and rarely on its own.

Please help!
Thanks!!! ^_^

[haka]

くれる　は「ください」と「もらう」みたいけど、ただ友だちや子どもや家族と使っています。

僕は犬に新聞をくれた。

友だちにしゅくだいを教えてくれた。

kureru is like "kudasai" or "morau" (receive) but you only use it with friends and family and kids and stuff.

I was given the newspaper by the dog.
I received information about my homework from my friend.

I think this is right? nee

[Psy]

くれる　は「ください」と「もらう」みたいけど、ただ友だちや子どもや家族と使っています。

僕は犬に新聞をくれた。

友だちにしゅくだいを教えてくれた。

kureru is like "kudasai" or "morau" (receive) but you only use it with friends and family and kids and stuff.

I was given the newspaper by the dog.
I received information about my homework from my friend.

I think this is right? nee

Sorry to burst your bubble, but not quite. First a little word about giving and recieving:

In Japanese, it is part of the culture to "lower yourself" when something is being given ("giving" can be things, favors, actions...) to you and "raise" others when you are giving to them. This can be seen quite clearly in the kanji for 下さる (kudasaru) and 上げる (ageru)-- actions going down and up, respectively. This is why when you ask someone to do something for you, you ask that they come down to your level to do it. For example, "please read this," よんで下さい (yonde kudasai), is literally "honorably come down to my level and read this." Conversely, in "to give a present" プレゼントを上げる (purezento wo ageru) is literally "I give a present upwards to you." Such is the way of things in Japanese-- if you can keep the "you are exalted, above me" and "I am humble, below you" situation in mind, you have the basis for understanding formal speech patterns.

The mistake you made, haka, is that you are confusing kureru and morau which, while they both have to do with giving/receiving, are used differently: kureru is a giving-down (like kudasaru, except informal) word whereas morau is a receiving from up word. For example:

私はプレゼントをもらった (watashi wa purezento wo moratta) (I got [was given] a present)
私にプレゼントをくれた ([someone] gave a present to me.)

One reason this can get confusing is that, when spoken by natives, most sentences like this drop the pronouns completely. プレゼントをもらった and プレゼントをくれた both in-general convey the idea that you got a present, but if you get any closer you'll find that the meanings are different. Thus, in the sentence 僕は犬に新聞をくれた (boku wa inu ni shimbun wo kureta), you actually said, in a rather brash way, "I gave the dog a newspaper." Because kureru (like kudasaru) is a giving down word, you put the dog beneath you socially in giving the newspaper to him. Though the meaning you wanted could have been said with 僕は犬に新聞をもらった (boku wa inu ni shimbun wo moratta), it would sound really weird because you're exalting... a dog.

This is a difficult topic to deal with (it is said that Japanese people sometimes need formal training to learn "proper" honorific speech), and has given many students many headaches. We just don't have equivalent sentence patterns in English, so it takes time for the brain to get used to them. Don't stress out over it... just be aware of the concepts and keep asking questions.

ここまで読んでくれてどうもありがとう. 頑張ってね！

[watermen]

くれる　は「ください」と「もらう」みたいけど、ただ友だちや子どもや家族と使っています。

僕は犬に新聞をくれた。

友だちにしゅくだいを教えてくれた。

kureru is like "kudasai" or "morau" (receive) but you only use it with friends and family and kids and stuff.

I was given the newspaper by the dog.
I received information about my homework from my friend.

I think this is right? nee

Sorry to burst your bubble, but not quite. First a little word about giving and recieving:

In Japanese, it is part of the culture to "lower yourself" when something is being given ("giving" can be things, favors, actions...) to you and "raise" others when you are giving to them. This can be seen quite clearly in the kanji for 下さる (kudasaru) and 上げる (ageru)-- actions going down and up, respectively. This is why when you ask someone to do something for you, you ask that they come down to your level to do it. For example, "please read this," よんで下さい (yonde kudasai), is literally "honorably come down to my level and read this." Conversely, in "to give a present" プレゼントを上げる (purezento wo ageru) is literally "I give a present upwards to you." Such is the way of things in Japanese-- if you can keep the "you are exalted, above me" and "I am humble, below you" situation in mind, you have the basis for understanding formal speech patterns.

The mistake you made, haka, is that you are confusing kureru and morau which, while they both have to do with giving/receiving, are used differently: kureru is a giving-down (like kudasaru, except informal) word whereas morau is a receiving from up word. For example:

私はプレゼントをもらった (watashi wa purezento wo moratta) (I got [was given] a present)
私にプレゼントをくれた ([someone] gave a present to me.)

One reason this can get confusing is that, when spoken by natives, most sentences like this drop the pronouns completely. プレゼントをもらった and プレゼントをくれた both in-general convey the idea that you got a present, but if you get any closer you'll find that the meanings are different. Thus, in the sentence 僕は犬に新聞をくれた (boku wa inu ni shimbun wo kureta), you actually said, in a rather brash way, "I gave the dog a newspaper." Because kureru (like kudasaru) is a giving down word, you put the dog beneath you socially in giving the newspaper to him. Though the meaning you wanted could have been said with 僕は犬に新聞をもらった (boku wa inu ni shimbun wo moratta), it would sound really weird because you're exalting... a dog.

This is a difficult topic to deal with (it is said that Japanese people sometimes need formal training to learn "proper" honorific speech), and has given many students many headaches. We just don't have equivalent sentence patterns in English, so it takes time for the brain to get used to them. Don't stress out over it... just be aware of the concepts and keep asking questions.

ここまで読んでくれてどうもありがとう. 頑張ってね！

Excellent explanation. I love your explanation. It is great to have you here to explain to us. Thanks a lot. Really appreciate your time and effort.

I have a question. The sentence you used:ここまで読んでくれてどうもありがとう. How do I translate it, I am confuse now.

My guess is: Thanks for reading up to here. Please correct me.　どうもありがとうございます。

[Psy]

I have a question. The sentence you used:ここまで読んでくれてどうもありがとう. How do I translate it, I am confuse now.

My guess is: Thanks for reading up to here. Please correct me.

No need for corrections-- you're exactly right.

[haka]

ああ、そうなんですか。
正してなりました。

でも、そういうな文章を使うのはどうして「i received a newspaper from my dog.」を作りますか。

僕は犬に新聞を（なんとか）

１。あげた？
２。もらった？

[Psy]

そうだね、たぶん直接に和訳したら「もらう」の方がいいけれど、動物に対して敬語をつけるのはちょっと変だと思いますよ。私ならその意味を伝えたら、敬語無しで「犬に新聞を持ってこさせた」とか使いますが、日本人ではないから完ぺきかどうか確認できません。それにしても、お役に立てば嬉しいです。

[haka]

そうね。

キーキーという猿に聞かなきゃ

でも動物じゃなくて、息子や娘対して、「もらう」を付ければいいですか。

「娘に自分で描いた絵をもらった。」か。

[Psy]

それで大丈夫です。「娘が自分で描いた絵をもらった」という言い方も大丈夫だと思います。英語で"I received a handmade drawing from my daughter."

・・・猿のキーキーさんの意見は？（笑）