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もらう

English translation: Yes, it is weird.

02:37 Jun 1, 2005
Japanese to English translations [Non-PRO]
Art/Literary - Linguistics
Japanese term or phrase: もらう
Is the following sentence grammatically or culturally correct?

A received a book from me.
Aさんは私に本をもらった。

I always thought もらう is to be used for in-group, i.e. 私はBさんにｘｘをもらう, and I've never seen the above usage. It sounds a bit weird but I'm not sure. Can anybody advise?

Thanks.
Wei Peng Loy
Local time: 01:24
English translation:Yes, it is weird.
Explanation:
You don't generally use もらう as it is used in the sentence above. You can use it when YOU receive something, or when you talk about two other people (eg, AさんはBさんに本をもらった). You could reverse it and say 私はAさんに本をあげた if the person is equal or lesser (!) in status; or, more politely, 私はAさんに本をさしあげました.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 21 hrs 19 mins (2005-06-01 23:56:28 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Just as an aside, we do sometimes hear people using ¥"もらう¥" and ¥"いただく¥" coming from themselves to other people, but it is strange: for instance, you¥'re giving someone a candy, and say ¥"あめいただいてください¥". People do say this sometimes but it¥'s not correct; the verbs ¥"もらう¥" and ¥"いただく¥" should not be used when other people are receiving things from you--only when you receive from others, or are talking about a third party.
Selected response from:

KNielsen
Japan
Local time: 02:24
Grading comment
Thanks all. Now I get it.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
5 +4Yes, it is weird.
KNielsen
5 +3For you reference
humbird
4 +2私はAさんに本をあげました。 A can use the word もらう
Saiwai Translation Services
2--> くれた
Kurt Hammond


  

Answers


3 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 2/5Answerer confidence 2/5
もらう
--> くれた


Explanation:
I think correct way to say this might have been Aさんは私に本をくれた


--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 3 hrs 22 mins (2005-06-01 06:00:08 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

http://ist-socrates.berkeley.edu/‾hasegawa/Jpnotes/donatory_verbs.html
http://saga.cool.ne.jp/manggis/anchoko/anchoko_10.htm

Kurt Hammond
United States
Local time: 10:24
Works in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 8
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

5 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +2
もらう
私はAさんに本をあげました。 A can use the word もらう


Explanation:
If you want to translate your sentence from English to Japanese
"A received a book from me"
Translation is = "私はAさんに本をあげました。"

In such a case, only A さん　can use the word もらう, you cant use it.
Let your name is "B"
then A can say "私はBさんに本をもらいました。”He(A) can aslo say in other word "Bさんは私に本をくれました。




The word もらう

もらうis used in case of
私はAさんに本をもらいました。



Saiwai Translation Services
Japan
Native speaker of: English

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Kaori Myatt: Isn't Japanese hard?
19 mins
agree  mstkwasa
1 hr
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2 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5 peer agreement (net): +3
もらう
For you reference


Explanation:
The reason this sentence sound weird is because the usage of もらうis completely wrong.
Better one is forget about もらう, and use another verb あげる-- 私はAさんに本をあげました。
Both もらうand あげるdescribes something is changing hand. As for もらう:
私はAさんの本をもらいました。
Bさん、私の本をもらってくれますか？
Bさん、私の本をもらいたいですか？
Aさん,あなたがいらないなら、その本もらってもいいですよ。
Those are some examples of correct usage of verb もらう.
One more thing, もらうmeans in English, be given, receive, accept. It is almost always a gift (free).　あげる is opposite.
Hope this helps.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2 hrs 47 mins (2005-06-01 05:24:17 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

あげる is opposite, but still a gift just as well.


--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 10 hrs 23 mins (2005-06-01 13:01:00 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

A bit of side note --- another usage of もらうis お嫁さんをもらう. A usage maybe little difficult to understand for non-native Japanese speakers.

humbird
Native speaker of: Native in JapaneseJapanese, Native in EnglishEnglish

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Kaori Myatt: I agree. 私はAさんの本をもらったis perfectly OK.
2 hrs
  -> Thank you Kaori-san!
agree  mstkwasa
3 hrs
  -> Thnak you mstkwasa-san!
agree  Minoru Kuwahara: もらう and あげる would be close to the meanings of take and give in english. btw the above sentence "Bさん、私の本をもらいたいですか？" would not just sound fit to my japanese ears. will anybody agree? -
1 day 21 hrs
  -> This expression actually took place when one of my friends was getting rid of some of his books. But thank you for your comment.
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7 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5 peer agreement (net): +4
もらう
Yes, it is weird.


Explanation:
You don't generally use もらう as it is used in the sentence above. You can use it when YOU receive something, or when you talk about two other people (eg, AさんはBさんに本をもらった). You could reverse it and say 私はAさんに本をあげた if the person is equal or lesser (!) in status; or, more politely, 私はAさんに本をさしあげました.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 21 hrs 19 mins (2005-06-01 23:56:28 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Just as an aside, we do sometimes hear people using ¥"もらう¥" and ¥"いただく¥" coming from themselves to other people, but it is strange: for instance, you¥'re giving someone a candy, and say ¥"あめいただいてください¥". People do say this sometimes but it¥'s not correct; the verbs ¥"もらう¥" and ¥"いただく¥" should not be used when other people are receiving things from you--only when you receive from others, or are talking about a third party.

KNielsen
Japan
Local time: 02:24
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
Grading comment
Thanks all. Now I get it.

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Can Altinbay: 私から would work, but it's still not as clean as your suggestion.
24 mins
  -> Thanks, Can :-)
agree  mstkwasa: Good explanation! The problem is the English sentence: it should have read "I gave a book to A" rather than "A received a book from me".
6 hrs
  -> Thank you!
agree  tappi_k
20 hrs
  -> Thank you!
agree  Minoru Kuwahara: addition: no matter what social status you may have, you could use the word あげる as politely as you wish (except for dialogues). i have never heard someone say いただいてください which is certainly a confusion of speaker's intention. how we notice impro
2 days 34 mins
  -> Thanks, mulberryfield. I agree that it's strange, but I have heard "いただいてください" used on more than one occasion--go figure!
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