I asked my husband (おっと)to cut my son’s hair (かみ), so he did it. All of the following sentences more or less describes what happened but which would be the best sentence and which would be the worst one?
a. おっとは むすこの かみを きって あげた。
b. おっとは むすこの かみを きった。
c. おっとは むすこの かみを きって くれた。
d. むすこは おっとに かみを きって もらった。
The best one is c and the worst one is b. Why?
あげる/くれる/もらう are verbs for “giving and receiving”:
あげる: to give
くれる: (for somebody) to give me
もらう: to receive
and if these are used with a てform, what is given/received is a gift of an action. i.e.
[てform] + あげる = [doer] does something for [receiver].
[てform] + くれる = [doer] does something to [receiver] for me. (I could be the [receiver] but not always the case.)
[てform] + もらう = [receiver] receive an action from [doer].
In this example,
[doer] = おっと and [receiver] = むすこ, so the translation of each sentence is:
a. My husband cut my son’s hair for my son.
b. My husband cut my son’s hair.
c. My husband cut my son’s hair for me.
d. My son received a hair cut from my husband.
As c is the only one implying “I” am involved, c is the best one.
b. just states the fact that my husband cut my son’s hair but stating the fact like that sometimes gives the impression that [doer] does/did something on his/her own accord without other party’s consent. So おっとは むすこの かみを きった sounds like my husband is a horrible person to do such a thing of cutting my son’s hair without my and my son’s consent.
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