Give and receive - Ageru, kureru and morau

In Japanese, there is more than one verb that means “to give, to bring, to receive“. The choice of this verb will depend on the direction of the transaction. In this article, we will examine 3 verbs that have a significant impact on this subject.

Ageru and Kureru

The most common way to say the verb “to give or to receive” is あげる (ageru) and くれる(kureru), but when should each one be used?

• あげる – Ageru is used when I give to you, you give to others, I give to others, someone gives to someone;
• くれる – Kureru is used when someone gives to me, you give to me, someone gives to you;

We must remember that the giver is the subject of the sentence, and it is accompanied by the particle は or が. The recipient is accompanied by the particle に.

• (Giver)は/が (Recipient) に (object) を (verb ageru/kureru)

Example sentences:

ねえ、朝ご飯作ってくれる？
Nee asagohan tsukutte kureru?

Hey, can you make breakfast?

昨日作ってあげたから今日は君の番だよ！
Kinou tsukutte ageta kara kyou wa kimi no ban dayo!

I already did that yesterday, so today it’s your turn!

Just like any verb, they are conjugated as necessary. There is a formal way to say あげる which is  差し上げる(sashiageru) and a formal way to say くれる which is 下さる (Kudasaru).

Morau

もらう – Morau is used when receiving something from someone, from the perspective of the receiver.

But what does that mean? We can compare it in Portuguese:

• Lucas gives me a book;
• I received a book from Lucas;

While in the case of kureru and ageru the (giver) gives to the (receiver), using morau we give the idea of the (receiver) receiving from the (giver). In the case of morau, we reverse the recipient with the giver.

• (Recipient)は/が(giver)に…
• (Recipient)は/が(giver) から(kara) + (object) を morau

Example sentences:

私はケビンにお菓子をもらった。
Watashi wa Kevin ni okashi o moratta.

I received sweets from Kevin.

この花は誰からもらったの？
Kono hana wa dare kara moratta no?

From whom did you receive these flowers?

As we noted in the first example of くれる, we can use くれる to ask for things, while we use もらう only to say that we received something. The formal way to say もらう is 頂く(=itadaku).

Using Shite して

We use あげる, くれる, and もらう together with the verb して to say that we are receiving or giving actions. Examples:

• (し)てくれる – Someone does a favor for you
• (し)てあげる – Someone does something for someone (the speaker’s point of view)
• (し)てもらう – Someone did something for you (from your point of view)

Example sentences:

鈴木さんがおごってくれた。
Suzuki-san ga ogotte kureta

Suzuki treated me.

鈴木さんにおごってもらった。
Suzuki-san ni ogotte moratta.

I was treated by Suzuki.

ケビンにおごってあげた。
Kevin ni ogotte ageta.

I treated Kevin.

I hope this article has cleared your doubts about these 3 verbs. We just need to delve deeper into the language, and time will teach us.

Still have questions? This video in English may help a bit, it is entirely illustrative, and it is not necessary to understand English to watch:

Embedded video (YouTube)