Monday, September 24, 2007

Grammar a Day - Level 1 - 貰う (morau)

貰う (morau) - have someone do something for you

--- Notes ---
morau is a fairly informal/plain/gruff way of asking someone to do
something for you.

書いてもらうか? = can you write it for me?
- something a boss might say to a junior

書いてくれる?
- more common, not overly polite, OK to use between friends

書いて頂けますか?
- slightly keigo, something you might say to your boss

やる is a pretty rough verb.
With 貰う makes things sound pretty blunt:
  やってもらう = hey, do it for me.

--- Examples ---
私は父にカメラを買って貰った

My father bought a camera for me

私は友達に日本語を教えて貰っている

I am having a friend teach me japanese

コンビニで、何か買って貰いたいですか?
At the store, is there anything you want me to buy for you?

4時に医者に診てもらう予約をした。
I made an appointment to see the doctor at four o'clock.

あなたはグリーン先生に英語の発音を直してもらうべきだ。
You should have Mr Green correct your English pronunciation.

今すぐ髪を切ってもらう必要はないよ。
You need not have a haircut right now.

ことによると、きみにも一緒にきてもらう。
Maybe you better come with us.

このヒーターは故障しているようなので、彼に修理してもらう予定だ。
Since this heater seems to be out of order, I'll have him repair it.

この椅子を修理してもらうのにどれくらいかかるのでしょうか。
What would it cost to have this chair repaired?

この仕事は誰にもしてもらうわけにはいかない。
I can't get this work done by anybody.

この車は修理してもらう必要がある。
This car needs repairing.

じゃあ、言わせてもらうけど。
Let me tell you something.

--- Comments ---
貰う and あげる are two faces of one coin. The former describes the
situation from the position of a receiver, whereas the latter describes the
situation from the side of the giver. Note also that やる, also the verb
describing the situaiton from the standpoint of the giver, is relatively
impolite as contrasted to あげる. When you feed a pet you use やる but that
can also be used in case of humans if the receiver is inferior to you.In
the same vein, 貰う and くれる have the same kind of semantic difference as
would exist between あげる and やる.
(contributor: bamboo4)

bamboo - tried to distill your comments into a note at the top. feel free
to add notes instead of comments when you think you have a summary
explanation... (contributor: dc)

where does fit on this continuum? I have heard it used mainly for
'receiving'.
are & kind of opposites like & ? ie the polite forms of give and
receive/ also used as 'do for you' & 'you do for me' (contributor: dc)

'itadaku' ia a honorific of 'morau.' 'itashimasu' does not belong here.
(contributor: bamboo4)

bamboo4- if you put the items like itadaku in square brackets, rather than
'quotes' they will come up as hilited links like this:
btw can you explain ? (contributor: dc)

is 'to do' spoken in a modest manner, or which the Japanese call 謙譲語.
私がいたします would be directed to your superior meaning that 'I will do
that.' It has nothing to do with 'giving' or 'receiving' which would be
involved in 貰う and あげる.
(contributor: bamboo4)

Another honorific for give is {さしあげる}that can be used in such cases
as {してさしあげる}meaning as a very polite expression. It can be used
with a number of other verbs, too. (contributor: bamboo4)

Hi, I think that 'morau' is actually not a Level 1 JLPT expression. This
is perhaps more like Level 3 expression, since this is normally not
considered an advanced expression.

I also think that in practice, Shite Sashiageru is not really used often.
Rather, they would use 'shitai to omoimasu' as a replacement. I think the
only situations in which you would use Shite Sashiageru is to someone who's
of higher social ranking than you, and also very close to you. (Perhaps
your close grandmother, or someone like that) (contributor: nhk9)

--- View this entry online ---
http://www.jgram.org/pages/viewOne.php?tagE=morau

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