Giving and Receiving

There are several verbs to expressing giving and receiving depending on the relative status of the giver and receiver and the direction of the action:

あげる	ageru	Give
差し上げる	sashiageru	Give to superiors
やる	yaru	(informal, give to animals)
くれる	kureru	Give to speaker
下さる	kudasaru	Give to speaker from superior
もらう	morau	Receive
いただく	itadaku	Receive from superiors

私はヒューさんに本をあげました。
Watashi wa Hyu-san ni hon o agemashita.
I gave Hugh a book.

私はトラコにおもちゃをやりました。
Watashi wa Torako ni omocha o yarimashita.
I gave Torako the toy.

ヒューさんは私に本をくれました。
Hyu-san wa watashi ni hon o kuremashita.
Hugh gave me the book.

私はヒューさんに本をもらいました。
Watashi wa Huu-san ni hon o moraimashita.
I received the book from Hugh.

Keigo

When using keigo, polite language, the ordinary words for give and receive are replaced with a more polite version. Please note that you have to be extremely cautios when using these words, so that you will not use lower the one you are speaking with, instead of raising him or her.  

 

私は先生に本を差し上げました。
Watashi wa sensei ni hon o sashiagemashita.
I gave the teacher a book.

私は先生に本をいただきました。
Watashi wa sensei ni hon o itadakimashita.
I received a book from the teacher.

先生は私に本を下さいました。
Sensei wa watashi ni hon o kudasaimashita.
The teacher gave me a book.

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This page is a part of "Some Notes on Japanese Grammar" published for your personal use, with the kind permission of Keith Smillie (http://www.cs.ualberta.ca/~smillie/)