nihongo wo benkyou shitai

日本語：	[giver] は [receiver] に [noun clause] をくれる
日本語：	[giver] は [receiver] に [noun clause] をくださる
English:	[giver] gave [noun clause] to [receiver]

We recently looked at how the verbs あげる, さしあげる and やる can be used to express the concept of giving an item to someone or, with the ーて conjugation, the concept of doing something for someone. We made the point that these are only used when the act is preformed away from the speaker. Today we will look at what is effectively the opposite of this, くれる and it's honourific counterpart くださる.

Although the grammatical structure is the same as あげる, くれる is used when the act of giving is performed toward the speaker and as such, the sentence is from the receiver's point of view. With くれる sentences, the receiver can be I or we.

It is worth emphasising that くれる in this context means to give. If you want to say that someone receives something then you should use もらう. I don't know which one is used more frequently - my guess is that as the Japanese are big fans of passive grammar, maybe もらう, but I don't know. If/when I find out, I'll update this entry.

English:	My friends gave me a book on DIY.
Jenglish:	[friends][me][diy][about][book][gave]
日本語：	友達は私に日曜大工について本をくれた。
日本語：	友達は日曜大樹について本をくれた。

I wrote the Japanese twice as the second sentence seems more common - dropping the receiver if it is clear from the context of the sentence.

English:	Because I am taking an exam soon, my work colleagues gave me a card.
Jenglish:	[exam][soon][take][because][work colleagues][good luck card][gave]
日本語：	試験をすぐに受けるから同僚はグッドラックカードをくれた。

Times to scour the Internet! Actually this was a difficult search: Google came up with ーてくれる more frequently than plain old くれる sentences. Maybe that means something...

Example 1:

Taken from here this appears to be an interesting interview for all you anime fans.

日本語：	素敵な出会いをくれた映画　倍賞千恵子さんに聞く
Jenglish:	[fantastic][meeting][receive][film][Baisyou][Chieko][to][listen]

Well, my best guess is The film that received a great reception - listen to Chieko Baisyou.

Example 2:

Here's another one from a blog's title here.

日本語：	考える時間をくれた初めての大きなケガ
Jenglish:	[think][time][give (to me)][for the first time][big][hurt]

I've spent a bit of time pondering this one, mainly due to the fact that the literal translation just doesn't make sense. Also, the subject and indirect object have been left out which added to my confusion. So, I've come up with It hurt a lot the first time I got time to think

またね・・・