〜てくれる: When Someone Does Something For You

What it means

〜てくれる describes an action that someone does for you, framed as a favor you're grateful for. The grammar is simple — verb in the て-form plus くれる — but the feeling matters: くれる adds the sense of "they kindly did this for me." Without it, モチが宿題を手伝った just reports "Mochi helped with the homework." Add くれる and 宿題を手伝ってくれた says "Mochi helped me out (and I appreciate it)."

The doer of the kind act is the subject, marked with が or は. The person who benefits is the speaker (or the speaker's in-group), and that part is so obvious it usually disappears from the sentence.

How to form it

Attach くれる to the て-form of the verb. くれる is a る-verb, so it conjugates regularly:

Note: くださる is irregular in the polite form — it becomes くださいます, not くださります.

Who is the subject?

The giver of the favor is the subject, and the beneficiary is me (the speaker). Because the beneficiary is almost always the speaker, Japanese leaves it out:

In the first sentence Yattan is part of the speaker's "side," so くれる still works even though the receiver isn't literally "me." If the receiver is named, it's marked with に.

Polite and request forms

When the giver is someone you respect — a teacher, a customer, an elder — swap くれる for the polite くださる:

To ask someone to do a favor, make くれる or くださる negative-question: 〜てくれませんか or the more polite 〜てくださいませんか ("Could you…?"). These are softer and more polite than a plain 〜てください command:

Compared with 〜てあげる and 〜てもらう

These three "favor" verbs are easy to mix up. The trick is who is the subject and which way the kindness flows:

• 〜てくれる — someone does for me. The giver is the subject; I receive the favor: モチが手伝ってくれた ("Mochi helped me").
• 〜てあげる — I do for someone else. I (or my side) am the subject, giving the favor outward: ヤッタンがモチを手伝ってあげた ("Yattan helped Mochi"). Be careful — said to the listener's face, あげる can sound like you're bragging about your kindness.
• 〜てもらう — I receive a favor (different subject). Here the receiver is the subject and the doer takes に: モチに手伝ってもらった ("I had Mochi help me / I got Mochi to help me").

So 〜てくれる and 〜てもらう can describe the same event from opposite angles: モチが手伝ってくれた and モチに手伝ってもらった both mean Mochi helped me — but くれる puts Mochi (the giver) in the subject slot, while もらう puts me (the receiver) there.

Common mistakes

1. Using くれる for what you do for others. くれる is only for favors coming toward you. "I helped Mochi" is ヤッタンがモチを手伝ってあげた, not てくれた.
2. Dropping the て-form. It attaches to the て-form, not the dictionary form: 買ってくれた (✓), not 買うくれた (✗).
3. Saying くださります. The polite of くださる is くださいます / くださいました. 教えてくださいます (✓).
4. Marking the receiver with を. The person who receives the favor takes に, not を: ヤッタンに買ってくれた (✓).

Quick recap

• 〜てくれる = someone does something for me, felt as a kindness.
• The giver is the subject (が/は); the beneficiary is usually the unstated speaker.
• Polite giver → 〜てくださる (→ くださいます); request → 〜てくれませんか / 〜てくださいませんか.
• 〜てあげる = I do for others; 〜てもらう = I receive (receiver is the subject, doer takes に).

Your turn

Take the full N5 〜てくれる drill →