てくれる
- 1Someone does an action for the benefit of the speaker or someone close to the speaker.Ex. 1
- 2A family member or other person does something kind for the speaker, and the speaker appreciates it.Ex. 2
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Neutral in register; the plain form suits friends and family, and the polite form てくれます suits general polite speech. The giver is the grammatical subject and the beneficiary is the speaker or in-group, usually left unstated. Compare てもらう, which describes the same favor from the recipient's side, and てあげる, which describes favors flowing away from the speaker.
Learners sometimes use てくれる for favors the speaker does for others; use てあげる for that direction instead.
Note that the giver is marked with が and is the subject, while the recipient (the speaker) is usually omitted.
Do not use plain てくれる for favors from superiors in polite contexts; use てくださる instead.
- てもらうN3「てもらう」 takes the beneficiary as the subject and marks the giver with 「に」 (「から」 is also possible): 「友達に貸してもらった」 and 「友達が貸してくれた」 are interchangeable perspective switches. For requests, use 「てもらえませんか」; the polite form is 「ていただく」.
- てあげるN4「てあげる」 goes in the opposite direction: we do something for someone else, with the beneficiary marked by 「に」, while 「てくれる」 means someone does something for our side, so the two cannot be swapped. Said directly to superiors or elders, 「てあげる」 can sound like bestowing a favor.
- 〜ていただくN4「〜ていただく」 takes the beneficiary as the subject and marks the doer with 「に」, in a formal register; 「てくれる」 takes the giver as the subject with 「が」, in a neutral register. As a request, 「ていただけますか」 is far more polite than 「てくれない？」.
- てやるN4「てやる」 goes in the opposite direction: we do something for peers, juniors, or animals/plants, with a colloquial, condescending tone; it can also mean deliberately causing someone displeasure or expressing strong resolve. The two cannot be swapped.
- てほしいN4「てくれる」 describes someone doing something for our side, or makes a request in question form; 「てほしい」 states one's own wish, with the doer marked by 「に」 or 「が」, and can also express hoping for non-agentive events to occur. When requesting, the former asks the other person, while the latter directly states one's wish.
てもらう and its humble form 〜ていただく make the recipient the subject and mark the giver with に. てあげる and てやる describe favors from the speaker's side outward, with てやる being blunt or directed at inferiors, while てほしい only expresses a wish that someone would do something.
