Lesson 71: おかゆを 持って きました

N4 · Lesson 71 · 18 min — Direction: bring, take, go and come back. Change: getting ~ and going on ~.

Last lesson you learned intransitive and transitive verbs, and ている・てある. In this lesson, you put くる or いく after the て-form. First you learn direction: bring, take, and go and come back. Then you learn change: "it has gotten ~ up to now" and "it will keep getting ~ from now on." Let's read the comic first!

After this lesson, you can:

• Say which way something moves: おかゆを 持もって きました (I brought the porridge), 傘かさを 持もって いきます (I'll take an umbrella)
• Say "go and do ~, then come back": ちょっと パンを 買かって きます (I'll go buy some bread and be right back)
• Say which way a change moves in time: だんだん 寒さむく なって きました (It has gotten colder and colder), これから 変かわって いきます (It will keep changing from now on)

Porridge Visit

Last lesson Mr. Kuma caught a cold and the shop closed. Rin and Neko-sensei carry hot porridge upstairs to visit him. (おかゆ = porridge; 観光客かんこうきゃく = tourists)

Vて + くる／いく = bring / take. 〜て きた = has been getting ~ up to now. 〜て いく = will keep ~ from now on. Next lesson: the JLPT results arrive...

Words for this lesson: bring, take, and change

• 持もつ (motsu): to hold, to carry (things)
• おかゆ (okayu): porridge (plain rice porridge)
• 連つれる (tsureru): to take or bring (a person, an animal)
• 増ふえる (fueru): to increase, to become more
• 減へる (heru): to decrease, to become less
• 変かわる (kawaru): to change
• だんだん (dandan): gradually, little by little
• これから (korekara): from now on
• がんばる (ganbaru): to do one's best, to hang in there
• 町まち (machi): town, neighborhood
• 顔色かおいろ (kaoiro): complexion, how someone looks (healthy or not)
• 観光客かんこうきゃく (kankōkyaku): tourist
• ふしぎ (fushigi): strange, mysterious
• 二階にかい (nikai): second floor

Grammar 1 / 2: Bring・Take

Vて + くる = the action comes toward here. Vて + いく = it goes away from here. It can also mean "go and do ~, then come back."

• 〜て くる: toward here: Vて + くる means the action moves toward the speaker (or the place where you are now): 持もって くる (bring), 連つれて くる (bring a person), 歩あるいて くる (walk here). くる changes just like it does alone: きます, きました, きて ください. For example, a teacher might say: あした、傘かさを 持もって きて ください (Please bring an umbrella tomorrow [to school]). The thing is coming to "here," so you use くる.
• 〜て いく: away from here: Vて + いく means the action leaves here and goes somewhere else: 持もって いく (take), 連つれて いく (take a person), 歩あるいて いく (walk there). いく changes as usual: いきます, いきました. Watch out: its て-form is the exception いって (not いいて): いって ください.
• Go and do ~, then come back: 買かって くる and 見みて くる mean you first go somewhere else to do one thing, and then come back here. When Japanese people leave home, they say いってきます (I'm off). It is really 行いって + きます = "go and come back"!
• Carrying things? Taking people?: For things, use 持もつ: おかゆを 持もって くる. For people and animals, use 連つれる: 友ともだちを 連つれて いく. If you say 友ともだちを 持もって いく, it sounds like you are picking your friend up and carrying them off!

• おかゆを 持もって きました。 — I brought the porridge.
• 雨あめですから、傘かさを 持もって いって ください。 — It's raining, so please take an umbrella.
• ちょっと パンを 買かって きます。 — I'll go buy some bread and come right back.
• あした、友ともだちを 連つれて きても いいですか。 — Can I bring a friend tomorrow?
• 駅えきまで 歩あるいて いきましょう。 — Let's walk to the station.
• くまたが 駅えきから 歩あるいて きました。 — Kumata walked over from the station.

Grammar 2 / 2: Getting ~・Going on ~

Changing verb + て きた = (from the past until now) has been getting ~. + て いく = (from now on) will keep ~.

• 〜て きた: changed all the way to now: The change comes from the past toward "now," so you use きた, the た-form of くる: だんだん 寒さむく なって きました (It has gotten colder and colder), 日本語にほんごが わかって きました (I've started to understand Japanese little by little). It is often used with だんだん.
• 〜て いく: from now into the future: The change starts from now and moves into the future, so you use いく: これから 暖あたたかく なって いきます (It will get warmer and warmer from now on), この 町まちも 変かわって いくでしょう (This town will probably keep changing, too). It is often used with これから.
• The same picture as "bring・take": Think of time as a road, with "now" as the spot where you stand. Coming from the past to where you are = くる. Walking on from where you are into the future = いく. The direction you learned in Grammar 1 works for time, too.
• 増ふえました and 増ふえて きました: Put a verb of change before it: なる, 増ふえる, 減へる, 変かわる. 増ふえました only says the result: "it increased." 増ふえて きました adds the feeling of "it came about little by little."

• だんだん 寒さむく なって きましたね。 — It's gradually getting colder, isn't it?
• 顔色かおいろが よく なって きましたね。 — You look better and better.
• 日本語にほんごが すこし わかって きました。 — I'm starting to understand a little Japanese.
• 谷中やなかは 観光客かんこうきゃくが 増ふえて きました。 — The number of tourists in Yanaka has been growing little by little.
• これから 暖あたたかく なって いきます。 — It will keep getting warmer from now on.
• これからも 日本語にほんごを がんばって いきます。 — I'll keep doing my best to study Japanese from now on, too.