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文法ぶんぽうGrammar Point

〜てくれる do for me (favour): Meaning & Examples

te kureru · JLPT N4

JLPT N417 textsStudy card

〜てくれる means “do for me (favour)”. It is a JLPT N4 pattern: below are its construction, the nuances that trip learners up, and the sentences where real Japanese writers use it.

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一枚いちまいStudy card

A free one-page study card for 〜てくれる (do for me (favour)), JLPT N4: what it means, how it attaches, 3 example sentences with furigana, and the nuances that trip learners up. Read it right here, or take the PDF or PNG with you. We never ask for an email for this card.

The 〜てくれる study card: one A4 page holding the pattern, its JLPT N4 meaning, the construction rules, 3 example sentences with furigana, and the nuance notes.
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How 〜てくれる works

友だちが手伝ってくれました is “My friend helped me out.” Attach くれる to the て-form; the giver takes が, and you almost never need to say “me”, because くれる already points the action home. When the person doing you the favour is senior, it upgrades to 〜てくださる. Leaving the pattern out is not neutral — it makes a kindness sound like a bare fact.

構文こうぶんConstruction

  • Giver + が + Verb (て-form) + くれる

    田中さんが駅まで送ってくれた。 — Tanaka gave me a lift to the station.

  • Polite upward: 〜てくださる ・ 〜てくださいました

    先生が推薦状を書いてくださいました。 — My teacher wrote me a reference.

  • Casual request: 〜てくれる? ・ 〜てくれない?

    ちょっと手伝ってくれない? — Could you give me a hand?

  • Also for your own side — family, colleagues, your team

    兄が迎えに来てくれました。 — My brother came to pick me up.

例文れいぶんIn a sentence

My friend helped me with the move.
My teacher wrote me a letter of recommendation.
Could you give me a hand for a moment?

注意点ちゅういてんNuances

  • 教えてくれた already means “taught me”; adding it is not wrong but sounds like you are labouring the obvious.
  • Dropping くれる changes the tone, not just the grammar. 友だちが手伝った is correct Japanese that reads as cold — a native speaker hears the missing gratitude, not neutrality.
  • くれる covers your whole in-group. 母が作ってくれた is natural even when the food was for your brother, because your family counts as “this side”.
  • 〜てくれない? is a warm request between friends. Its careful equivalents are 〜てくださいませんか and 〜ていただけませんか, in rising order of politeness.
How 〜てくれる differs from similar patterns
  • 〜てあげる — Same favour, opposite direction: 教おしえてあげた means I taught them, 教おしえてくれた means they taught me. Getting these backwards is one of the most audible learner slips.
  • 〜てもらう — 〜てもらう describes the same event from the receiving end, with you as the subject: 教おしえてもらった (“I had them teach me”) rather than 教おしえてくれた (“they taught me”).
  • 〜てください — 〜てください is a direct request built from this same くれる; 〜てくれる reports a favour that has already happened.

練習れんしゅうYour Turn

Tip

Name three things other people did for you this week with 〜てくれました, making one of them from someone senior so you can use 〜てくださいました. Then ask a friend for a small favour with 〜てくれない?

〜てくれる (do for me (favour)) in real sentences

Each one is quoted from a published Japanese text in this library and links to the story it came from. Some use older spellings, or break off where the sentence carried on. They are transcribed exactly as their authors wrote them.

— from A Rainy Day (Beginner)

— from The Long Name (N3)

— from Mr. Duck and Mr. Chicken (N3)

— from Excellent English and American Jokes (N3)

Appears in 17 of 367 texts in our library.

蔵書ぞうしょThe texts

17 texts in the library use 〜てくれる

Free to read in full. Furigana over every kanji, a dictionary on any word you tap, and an English breakdown of each sentence.

あめの ひ cover Read あめの ひ A Rainy Day Yomimaru 1 min read · Short Story こぞうさんの　おきょう cover Read こぞうさんの　おきょう The Young Monk and the Rabbit 新美 南吉 6 min read · Short Story ねずみの冒険 cover Read ねずみの冒険 The Mouse's Adventure 小川 未明 16 min read · Short Story 井戸 cover Read 井戸 The Well ジェイコブス ウイリアム・ワイマーク 76 min read · Short Story 長い名 cover Read 長い名 The Long Name 楠山 正雄 15 min read · Short Story あひるさん　と　にはとりさん cover Read あひるさん　と　にはとりさん Mr. Duck and Mr. Chicken 村山 籌子 25 min read · Short Story 英米笑話秀逸 cover Read 英米笑話秀逸 Excellent English and American Jokes 佐々木 邦 18 min read · Short Story 迷子ノジヤガイモ cover Read 迷子ノジヤガイモ The Lost Potato 村山 籌子 5 min read · Short Story 九龍虫 cover Read 九龍虫 The Kowloon Bug 上村 松園 6 min read · Article 風邪をひいたお猫さん cover Read 風邪をひいたお猫さん The Cat Who Caught a Cold 村山 籌子 9 min read · Short Story おりこうハンス cover Read おりこうハンス Clever Hans グリム ヤーコプ・ルートヴィッヒ・カール 24 min read · Short Story 蘭丸の絵 cover Read 蘭丸の絵 Ranmaru's Picture 牧野 信一 21 min read · Short Story
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三匹ノ　コグマサント　キシヤ cover Read 三匹ノ　コグマサント　キシヤ Three Little Bears and the Train 村山 籌子 2 min read · Short Story 真紅な帆の帆前船 cover Read 真紅な帆の帆前船 The Crimson-Sailed Schooner 田中 貢太郎 6 min read · Short Story ハナとタマシヒ cover Read ハナとタマシヒ Hana and the Soul 平山 千代子 25 min read · Short Story 盗難 cover Read 盗難 The Theft 江戸川 乱歩 88 min read · Short Story 講演軍記 cover Read 講演軍記 Lecture Campaign Record 芥川 竜之介 4 min read · Article

解説かいせつBackground

Where this 〜てくれる explanation comes from

〜てくれる sits at JLPT N4 in the 302-point taxonomy every text in this library is tagged against. Each text is read for the patterns it contains, which is what lets this page list every text that uses 〜てくれる and pull its example sentences out of them.

The example sentences were not written to demonstrate the rule. They are quoted from published Japanese texts in this library (A Rainy Day and The Long Name among them), and each one links back to the story it came from, so you can read the sentence where it actually happened.

質問しつもんQuestions

〜てくれる: questions & answers

What is the difference between 〜てくれる and 〜てあげる?

Direction of the favour. 〜てくれる means someone does something for you or your side; 〜てあげる means you do something for someone else. 貸してくれた is “they lent it to me”, 貸してあげた is “I lent it to them”.

Do I have to say 私に with 〜てくれる?

No — くれる already means the action came toward you, so the “me” is built in. 手伝ってくれてありがとう needs no pronoun at all, and adding 私を or 私に usually sounds heavy.

What is 〜てくださる?

It is the respectful form of 〜てくれる, for favours from someone above you: 先生が説明してくださいました. The imperative 〜てください that you learned early on is the same verb, which is why every request in Japanese is literally “give me this action”.

Is there a printable 〜てくれる cheat sheet?

Yes. A free one-page 〜てくれる (do for me (favour)) study card sits at the top of this page, as both a PDF and a PNG. It carries the JLPT N4 meaning, how the pattern attaches, 3 example sentences with furigana, and the nuances learners get wrong. You do not need an account or an email address to download it.

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