Today we shall learn on how to use receiving and giving statements in Japanese. The grammar that you will learn today is very useful because you will be able to express yourself better when you want to tell or request a Japanese person for something.
The three verbs that you will learn today are kureruくれる, morauもらう and ageruあげる. The rule here is to change any verb into a -teて form first before using kureruくれる, morauもらう and ageruあげる.
Let’s start off with learning kureruくれる
えんぴつ を かして くれませんか - Won’t you lend me a pencil?
enpitsu wo kashite kuremasenka?
えんぴつ、鉛筆 means “pencil”
かす、貸す means “to lend or to borrow”
So what does kureruくれる means? It means to receive. But kureruくれる itself has no direct word for it. It acts like an arrow that comes towards the speaker. So after you have change the verb from かす to かして you can add the kureru after it or to sound more polite, add the -masu form of kureru after it (kureruくれる becomes kuremasuくれます) The obligated polite term for kureru is kusadaiください, which we learned in previous post
More examples
この ほん を よんで くれる？ - Can you read this book for me?
kono honn wo yonnde kureru?
この ビール を のんで くれる？ - Can you drink this beer for me?
kono bi-ru wo nonde kureru?
Next, let’s learn how to use morauもらう
Morauもらう is very similar to kureruくれる because it also has the same meaning as receiving. You can use back the examples above and change the kureruくれる to morauもらう. It’s not a problem. See examples below.
この ほん を よんで もらう？ - Can you read this book for me?
kono honn wo yonnde morau?
この ビール を のんで もらう？ - Can you drink this beer for me?
kono bi-ru wo nonde morau?
The humble expression for morauもらう is itadakuいただく and with the masu form, you get an even more humble expression, いただきます. Which is commonly use before you eat your food. Or if a Japanese gives you a treat, you should always say to the person before you eat, いただきます！
That was pretty easy to teach morauもらう. 
Moving on next is ageruあげる
Moving on next is ageruあげる
For ageruあげる, it means “to give” or another meaning for “for you” Let’s look at the examples
これ を たべて あげます - I will eat this for you
kore wo tabete agermasu
パソコン を つけて あげます - I will switch on the computer for you.
pasokon wo tsukete agemasu
It’s pretty simple to understand. Just change the verb that you will use into a -te form and add the agemasuあげます or ageruあげる after it. But do not use ageru あげる freely, as it might become offensive to the other party that you are speaking to. So how do we know when to use ageruあげる correctly?
Use ageruあげる only when the other party is younger than you, or he or she is your good friend. Let’s look at a small conversation below.
The scenario is taking place in a home.
Son: この もんだい が わからない、どう しよう？ - I don’t understand this question, what shall I do?
Son:kono mondai ga wakaranai, dou shyou?
Mother：だいじょうぶ、おしえて あげる
Mother:daijyoubu, oshiete ageru
どう しよう means “what to do” or “what should be done”
もんだい、問題 means “question”
だいじょうぶ、大丈夫 means “its alright” or “its ok”
So from the small conversation above, we can see that the mother will teach her son how to solve the problem. So its alright for the mother to use ageruあげる freely. But the best way to avoid any trouble is to just simply end the sentence without the ageruあげる. Example below.
Boss：この しゅるい を コピー して くれませんか？ - Can you make a copy of these documents for me?
Boss: kono shyurui wo koppi shite kuremasenka?
Staff： はい、コピー します。Sure! I will copy them.
Staff: hai, koppi shimasu
コピー means “copy” and to change to a verb, コピー する means “to copy”
しゅるい、種類 means “documents”
This is the safest way to avoid any confusion with the kureru/morau and ageru verbs. Another thing to take note is, in a working environment, its best not to use ageruあげる, as it sounds strange. The reason is because, using ageruあげる may seem like the other party is helpless and weak making him/her feel like he can’t do the work. To the Japanese, it’s a very rude statement.
A more complex usage of ageruあげる, morauもらう and kureruくれる will be posted soon. Stay tune for it.
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