Giving and Receiving in Japanese

In Brief

Japanese chooses among three basic verbs according to the direction of a gift. Use あげる when the giver gives to someone else, くれる when someone gives to you or someone on your side, and もらう when the sentence is told from the receiver’s point of view. The same event can often be described with either くれる or もらう, but the grammatical viewpoint changes.

Overview

English can use give without showing the speaker’s relationship to the receiver: “Mika gave Ken a book.” Japanese makes that direction more visible. あげる, くれる, and もらう describe not only the movement of an object but also whose point of view the speaker adopts. This system is called 授受表現（じゅじゅひょうげん）, “giving-and-receiving expressions.”

At A2, the useful beginner rule is a simple one: あげる = give outward, くれる = give toward me or my side, and もらう = receive. Before choosing a verb, identify the giver, the receiver, and the object. Then decide whether you want to present the event as giving or receiving.

These sentences also rely on particles—short markers that show each noun’s role. が or は marks the person whose viewpoint structures the sentence, を marks the thing transferred, and に commonly marks the other person. With もらう, から can mark the source especially clearly.

How It Works

The three viewpoints

Verb	Core direction	Person marked by は/が	Other person	Thing
あげる	from the giver to someone else	giver	receiver + に	object + を
くれる	from someone toward me or my side	giver	receiver + に, often omitted	object + を
もらう	toward the receiver	receiver	giver/source + に or から	object + を

The “person marked by は/が” is the person the sentence is built around. は presents that person as the topic (what the sentence is about), while が identifies or highlights the subject (the person performing the verb’s action).

あげる: giving away from the speaker’s side

The basic pattern is:

giver は/が + receiver に + object を + あげる

私は友達にプレゼントをあげました。
I gave my friend a present.

Here, 私 is the giver, 友達 is the receiver, and プレゼント is the object. The gift moves from the speaker to another person, so あげる fits.

You can also use あげる when one third person gives something to another, provided the event is not being framed as a gift toward you or your group:

田中さんは弟に時計をあげました。
Mr. Tanaka gave his younger brother a watch.

Japanese often leaves out information that is already obvious. 友達に花をあげました can therefore mean “I gave flowers to a friend” when the speaker is clearly the giver.

くれる: someone gives to me or my side

The basic pattern is:

giver は/が + (me/my side に) + object を + くれる

母が私に本をくれました。
My mother gave me a book.

Because くれる already points toward the speaker’s side, 私に is frequently omitted:

母が本をくれました。
My mother gave me a book.

“My side” often includes close family or another person with whom the speaker strongly identifies in the current context. For example, 先生が娘に本をくれました can mean “The teacher gave my daughter a book.” The daughter is treated as part of the speaker’s side.

Do not reduce this to physical direction. A person can mail you something from another country and still くれる it. What matters is the speaker’s social and conversational viewpoint.

もらう: receiving from someone

The basic pattern is:

receiver は/が + giver に/から + object を + もらう

私は先生に本をもらいました。
I received a book from my teacher.

With a person, both に and から are common. から literally marks the source and can make “from” especially transparent:

友達から写真をもらいました。
I received a photo from a friend.

For an organization, shop, or other non-personal source, から is often the clearer choice:

会社から記念品をもらいました。
I received a commemorative gift from the company.

Two views of the same event

A single transfer can be described in two ways:

Giving viewpoint	Receiving viewpoint
兄が私に自転車をくれました。	私は兄に自転車をもらいました。
My older brother gave me a bicycle.	I received a bicycle from my older brother.

The facts do not change. In the first sentence, 兄 is the subject and the event moves toward the speaker, so Japanese uses くれる. In the second, 私 is the receiver and the grammatical subject, so Japanese uses もらう.

This contrast is important because English speakers may try to translate give or receive directly before considering viewpoint. In Japanese, draw the direction first; choose the verb second.

Polite and plain forms

The three verbs use familiar beginner-level forms, but they do not all belong to the same conjugation group.

Meaning/form	あげる	くれる	もらう
plain non-past	あげる	くれる	もらう
polite non-past	あげます	くれます	もらいます
plain past	あげた	くれた	もらった
polite past	あげました	くれました	もらいました
plain negative	あげない	くれない	もらわない
polite negative	あげません	くれません	もらいません

Notice that もらう ends in う, but its polite form is もらいます and its past form is もらった. It is not an ichidan verb; it follows the godan pattern. あげる and くれる are ichidan verbs.

Examples in Context

Japanese	English	Note
友達にプレゼントをあげました。	I gave a present to my friend.	The speaker gives outward: あげる.
妹に古いパソコンをあげます。	I’ll give my old computer to my younger sister.	The receiver takes に.
田中さんは子供にお菓子をあげました。	Ms. Tanaka gave the child some sweets.	A third-person transfer viewed from the giver.
母が本をくれました。	My mother gave me a book.	私に is understood and omitted.
友達が誕生日カードをくれました。	A friend gave me a birthday card.	The gift moves toward the speaker.
先生が娘に辞書をくれました。	The teacher gave my daughter a dictionary.	The speaker’s daughter belongs to the speaker’s side.
先生に本をもらいました。	I received a book from my teacher.	The omitted receiver is the speaker.
友達から日本のお菓子をもらいました。	I received some Japanese sweets from a friend.	から clearly marks the source.
会社から新しいパソコンをもらいました。	I received a new computer from my company.	から is natural with an organization.
誕生日に何をもらいましたか？	What did you receive for your birthday?	に marks the occasion here, not the giver.
その花は誰にもらいましたか？	Who did you get those flowers from?	誰に asks for the giver/source.
これは祖父がくれた時計です。	This is a watch that my grandfather gave me.	祖父がくれた describes 時計.

Common Mistakes

Using あげる for a gift to yourself

• Wrong: 友達が私に花をあげました。
• Right: 友達が私に花をくれました。
• Why: From the speaker’s viewpoint, the flowers move toward 私, so use くれる. The wrong sentence can sound as though the speaker has failed to adopt the expected viewpoint.

Keeping English word order and losing the particles

• Wrong: 私は友達プレゼントをあげました。
• Right: 私は友達にプレゼントをあげました。
• Why: The receiver needs に, and the transferred object needs を. English word order alone does not show these roles in Japanese.

Marking the giver incorrectly with もらう

• Wrong: 私は先生を本にもらいました。
• Right: 私は先生に本をもらいました。
• Also right: 私は先生から本をもらいました。
• Why: を marks the thing received, not the giver. Mark the giver or source with に or から.

Treating くれる as a general translation of “give”

• Wrong: 私は弟に本をくれました。
• Right: 私は弟に本をあげました。
• Why: When “I” give something to another person, the movement is outward from the speaker’s side. Use あげる, not くれる.

Assuming every に marks a person

• Potential confusion: 誕生日にプレゼントをもらいました。
• Meaning: “I received a present for/on my birthday.”
• Why: 誕生日に marks the occasion. If you add the source, say for example 誕生日に友達からプレゼントをもらいました.

Usage Notes

Japanese commonly omits 私, especially when the choice of くれる already makes the receiver clear. Repeating 私に is grammatically correct, but it may be unnecessary unless you are contrasting recipients: 兄は妹ではなく、私に本をくれました (“My brother gave the book to me, not to my sister”).

Whether another person counts as “my side” depends on context, not a fixed family chart. Close family is the clearest case, but speakers can temporarily align themselves with a colleague, team, student, customer, or conversation partner. At A2, use くれる confidently for gifts to yourself and learn the wider “in-group” use from context.

Questions can adopt the listener’s viewpoint. 誰がくれましたか often means “Who gave it to you?” because the speaker treats the gift as moving toward the listener’s side. 誰にもらいましたか asks the same basic fact from the receiver’s viewpoint: “Who did you receive it from?”

Beyond the Basics / Advanced Use

You do not need to master the following forms yet, but you will encounter them as your Japanese becomes more socially precise.

Japanese has honorific alternatives that show the status of the giver or receiver. くださる is the respectful counterpart of くれる, used when a respected person gives to the speaker’s side: 先生が本をくださいました (“The teacher kindly gave me a book”). いただく is the humble counterpart of もらう: 先生から本をいただきました (“I humbly received a book from the teacher”). さしあげる is the humble counterpart of あげる, but it must be used with care because explicitly describing your action as a favor can sound self-important in some contexts.

やる can replace あげる when giving to animals, plants, or someone clearly lower in status: 犬に水をやる (“give the dog water”). It can sound rough or patronizing when used about people, so あげる is the safer general form for learners.

These verbs also combine with a verb’s て-form to describe beneficial actions rather than objects: 教えてあげる, 手伝ってくれる, and 説明してもらう. That is a larger grammar system with its own politeness and viewpoint issues. Learn it next rather than assuming every English “do something for someone” maps directly onto one form.

Finally, もらう does not always imply that the receiver actively requested the item. It focuses on acquisition from a source. Context tells you whether the gift was requested, expected, or spontaneous.

Practice Tips

1. Draw arrows. Write the giver on one side and the receiver on the other. An arrow away from you suggests あげる; an arrow toward you suggests くれる; putting the receiver at the center suggests もらう.
2. Retell one event twice. Convert 友達が写真をくれました into 私は友達から写真をもらいました. Keep the facts unchanged while switching the subject and particles.
3. Make a real gift list. Describe three things you have given and three things you have received. Include the giver, receiver, object, and correct particles before practicing natural omission.

Related Concepts

• Prerequisite: Basic Particles は/が/を/に — review how Japanese marks the giver, receiver, and transferred object.
• Next step: Giving and Receiving Favors てあげる/くれる/もらう — extend the same viewpoint system from objects to helpful actions.