てくる
- 1Expresses a gradual change or continuing process that has built up from the past until now.Ex. 1
- 2Expresses going somewhere, doing an action, and coming back.Ex. 2
- 3Expresses movement or an action directed toward the speaker's position.
Conjugation: くる conjugates as an irregular verb（てきます, てきた, てこない）
Writing: the auxiliary is usually written in hiragana（くる rather than 来る）
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Used in both everyday speech and writing. With change verbs such as なる, it presents a change viewed from the present looking back, and is often paired with 最近 or だんだん. Unlike ていく, which looks from the present toward the future or away from the speaker, てくる points toward the present or toward the speaker.
Learners sometimes read 買ってきました as simply 'came', missing that it means going somewhere, buying something, and returning.
Note that a change still expected to continue can take てくる for its development up to now; ていく covers the part from now onward.
Note that the auxiliary くる is normally written in hiragana, not as the kanji 来る.
- ていくN4「ていく」is the opposite in direction: a change keeps developing onward from the reference point (usually the present), or someone moves away from the speaker and leaves after doing something. 「てくる」, by contrast, comes toward the speaker, brings a change up to the reference point in time, or means going somewhere and coming back.
- てくれるN4「てくれる」means someone does something for our side, so we benefit and feel grateful, and it can also be used in requests. 「てくる」is about direction or the progress of a change and carries no sense of benefit, so the two can't be swapped — but they can combine, as in 「買ってきてくれた」.
- ようになるN4「ようになる」is close only to the 'change' sense of 「てくる」: it attaches to a verb's dictionary, potential, or ない form and highlights a newly formed ability or habit, while 「てくる」stresses the change gradually progressing. The two can stack, as in 「話せるようになってきた」.
- つつあるN2「つつある」matches only the 'change' sense: it attaches to the ます-stem (the ます form minus ます), belongs to written style, and typically describes large-scale changes that are in progress but not yet complete. It has no 'go and come back' or 'come this way' meaning and is rarely used for small everyday matters.
- 出すN4「出す」attaches to the ます-stem and captures the very moment an action or phenomenon begins, often with a feel of suddenness, while 「てくる」attaches to the て form and stresses a change gradually progressing and showing itself, plus its 'go and come back' and 'come this way' senses. When rain starts, both can be used.
てくる marks direction toward the present or the speaker, while ていく marks direction toward the future or away. てくれる expresses a favor received, ようになる stresses reaching a new state rather than a gradual build-up, つつある is a formal written expression for an ongoing change, and 出す marks the sudden start of an action.
