In Lesson 16, we learned that Japanese has the following verbs of giving and receiving objects.

• くれる (る-verb: Someone gives X to me/us.)
• あげる (る-verb: I/We/Someone give(s) X to someone else.)
• もらう (う-verb: I/We/Someone receive(s) X from someone else.)

These verbs can be attached to the Vて form and express a sense of giving and receiving of services: Someone does something for someone else as a favor.

Benefactorが/は	Beneficiaryに	Vて	Gave
田中さんは	私に	お金をかして	くれました	Tanaka lent me money.
田中さんは	私に	お金をかして	あげました	[Ungrammatical]
私は	田中さんに	お金をかして	あげました	I lent Tanaka money.
私は	田中さんに	お金をかして	くれました	[Ungrammatical]
Beneficiaryが/は	Benefactorに	Vて	Received
私は	田中さんに	本を買って	もらいました	Tanaka bought me a book.
田中さんは	リーさんに	本を買って	もらいました	Lee bought a book for Tanaka.
田中さんは	私に	本を買って	もらいました	[Ungrammatical]

Some verbs such as つれて行く (take someone along), おくって行く (take someone along (often by offering a ride)) and てつだう mark their beneficiary by を as shown below. If the destination marker に is used, don't confuse it with the benefactor marker に. Another destination marker まで (as far as) can also be used.

FYI: You can say しゅくだいを てつだう (help [someone's] homework) as well as 田中さんをてつだう (help Tanaka). If you need to say help Tanaka with his homework, this is said as 田中さんの しゅくだいを てつだう (Not this way: 田中さんを しゅくだいを てつだう [Ungrammatical]). The direct object marker ～を cannot be used twice in the same clause.

Benefactorが/は	Beneficiaryを	Vて	Gave
田中さんは	私を	えきに つれて行って	くれた	Tanaka took me to the station.
田中さんは	私を	てつだって	くれた	Tanaka helped me.
私は	田中さんを	えきに つれて行って	あげた	I took Tanaka to the station.
私は	田中さんを	てつだって	あげた	I helped Tanaka.
Beneficiaryが/は	Benefactorに	Vて	Received
私は	田中さんに	えきまで おくって行って	もらった	Tanaka drove me to the station.
私は	田中さんに	てつだって	もらった	Tanaka helped me.

If the verb does not have a place for the beneficiary (you can clean the room for someone, but cleaning does not normally involve a beneficiary), のために is used. (FYI: Among the examples below, Tanaka hates pizza, so Lee is helping him finish it by eating his pizza.)

Benefactorが/は	Beneficiaryのために	Vて	Gave
田中さんは	私のために	部屋をそうじして	くれた	Tanaka cleaned the room for me.
私は	田中さんのために	車をなおして	あげた	I fixed the car for Tanaka.
私は	田中さんのために	ピザを食べて	あげた	I ate pizza for Tanaka.
Beneficiaryが/は	Benefactorに	Vて	Received
私は	田中さんに	部屋をそうじして	もらった	I had my room cleaned by Tanaka.
田中さんは	リーさんに	車をなおして	もらった	Tanaka had his car fixed by Lee.
私は	リーさんに	ピザを食べて	もらった	I had my pizza eaten by Lee.

We learned that the request form is Vて下(くだ)さい (Please V) before. 下さる is the honorific form of くれる. We are now introducing additional request forms based on giving and receiving verbs ranging from very polite to casual.

Highly polite requests:

If you are making requests toward your superiors, customers, or outsider/outgroup members, you need highly polite request forms such as Vていただけませんか. The verb いただく (to receive) is the humble () form of もらう. Its potential form is いただける. The request form いただけませんか is the polite negative question form of いただける (Lit., Couldn't I possibly have your favor of ...? or Is it impossible to ask for your favor of...?).

• おなまえを書いていただけませんか。
  Could you please write down your name? (Lit. Couldn't I possibly have your favor of ...?)

Vて下さいませんか can also be used as a request with the politeness level close (but not as polite) to Vていただけませんか. 下さいます is the polite () form of 下さる.

• おなまえを書いて下さいませんか。
  Would you please write down your name? (Lit. Wouldn't you give me your favor of ...?)

Moderately polite requests:

Vてもらえませんか (Could I not have your favor of ...?) is a casual, polite form used among acquaintances and coworkers. This cannot be used with superiors and strangers.

• この本を かしてもらえませんか。
  Could you lend me this book? (Lit. Couldn't I have your favor of ...?)

Vてくれませんか (Won't you give me your favor of ...?) is also a casual, polite request form that is similar to Vてください with regard to the politeness level. It cannot be used with superiors and strangers, but it can be used toward host-family members.

• この本を かしてくれませんか。
  Would you lend me this book? (Lit., Wouldn't you give me your favor of ...?)

Casual requests:

Both Vてもらえない？ and Vてくれない？ (spoken with a rising intonation) are casual request forms used among friends and peers. The もらえない or くれない part can be deleted.

• 電話ばんごうを おしえて もらえない？
  Could you tell me your phone number? (Lit., Couldn't I have your favor of ...?)

• 電話ばんごうを おしえて くれない？
  Will you tell me your phone number? (Lit., Won't you give me your favor of ...?)

• 電話ばんごうを おしえて。
  Tell me your telephone number.

How to state a reason for your request:

We often state a reason or describe your problem before making a request as shown below:

• おんせんに行きたいんですが、つれて行っていただけませんか。
  I want to go to a hot spring, but could you please take me there?
  
  
• 日本語が読めなくてこまっているんだけど、おしえてくれない？
  I cannot read Japanese and am in trouble. Could you teach me?

How to say Please give this to Ms. Smith?

• これをスミスさんにあげてくれませんか or あげてもらえませんか。

How to say Please pass me the salt?

When requesting to Pass me the salt, the verb あげる andくれる do not work because you only want someone to pass the salt, not give it to you as a gift. Here is the way to say Pass me the salt.

• しおをとってくれない？ or とってもらえない？

How to say Could you please accept this? (Politely).

• これをもらって下さいませんか or もらっていただけませんか。
  (Exception: もらう can be used in the request form even if the giver is the speaker.)

The form ～と いいです can be used to say that you hope something nice will happen. The clause before と must be the plain, non-past form. (FYI: Literally, Xといい means It would be nice if X happens. The speaker has no control over whether X will happen, so he/she just hopes it will happen. We will learn to use と as a general conditional connective later.) Frequently, the sentence particle ね is added to refer to a hope for others (e.g., ～といいですね "I hope you/they...").

• テストで いいてんが とれると いいです。 　I hope I can get a good score on the test.
• テストで いいてんが とれると いいですね。 　I hope you can get a good score on the test.
  
• ふじさんが 見えると いいです。 　I hope I can see Mt. Fuji.
  
• あした 雨がふらないと いいですね。 　I hope it won't rain tomorrow.
  
• あした あたたかいと いいですね。 　I hope it will be warm tomorrow.
  
• あした お休みだと いいですね。 　I hope it will be a day off tomorrow.

If you think the likelihood of something good to happen is low, you can use ～といい(ん)ですが or ～といい(ん)ですけど.

• ふじさんが 見えると いいですが。 　I hope Mt. Fuji is visible, but...
  
• あした あたたかいと いいですけど。 　I hope it is warm tomorrow, but...
  
• あした お休みだと いいんですが。 　I wish it is a day off tomorrow, but...
• あした、あさねぼうしないといいですけど。 　I hope I won't oversleep tomorrow, but...

Caution. In Xといい, you are implying that you have no control over whether X will happen (e.g., natural phenomena like weather). You can only hope for X to happen. Therefore, X cannot refer to your own self-controllable action (i.e., something you do at will). A good test to see if something is self-controllable or not is to try to use it in the volitional form. For example, しゃしんをとる is a self-controllable action because you can say しゃしんをとろう (Let's take a picture!). When your hope involves your own self-controllable action (I hope I ...), make sure you say it in the potential form (しゃしんをとれるといいけど: I hope I can take a picture.). (FYI: All potential forms of verbs are by definition non-self-controllable.)

Compare the following. Sentence 1 is not acceptable, but Sentences 2 and 3 are acceptable because the speaker is referring to other's action in 2 or the speaker is referring to his/her abilities in 3.

1. いい仕事を見つけると いいんですが。
   I hope I will find a good job. (Your own action is self-controllable.)
   
   
2. スミスさんがいい仕事を見つけると いいんですが。
   I hope Smith will find a good job. (Other's action is not self-controllable.)
   
   
3. いい仕事が見つけられると いいんですが。
   I hope I can find a good job. (Ability is not self-controllable.)

So far, 時(とき) was introduced as a time noun to refer to a point in time as in ひまな時 (when (someone) is not busy) or 子供(ども)の時 (during my childhood), but とき can function more broadly to refer to the timing when something happens: S1とき、S2 (When S1, S2). S1 is normally in the plain form. Pay attention to the tense used in S1 below.

Time (Future)		Main Event (Future)
	S1とき、	S2
1.	日本に行く時、	おみやげを買います。	I will buy a souvenir when I go to Japan.
2.	日本に行った時、	おみやげを買います。	I will buy a souvenir when I go to Japan.

In example 1 above, the speaker will buy a souvenir before going to Japan or on his/her way to Japan but not in Japan. In example 2 above, the speaker will buy a souvenir after he/she has arrived in Japan. If the tense of S1 is present, then the event in S1 is not completed yet when S2 occurs. If the tense in S1 is past (i.e., perfective), the action in S1 is already completed when S2 occurs. This difference is shown in two separate time lines below.

	日本に行く時 (Going to Japan is incomplete) (Buying takes place before/while going to Japan)
	日本に行った時 (Going to Japan is complete) (Buying takes place some time after going to Japan)

This difference in "completeness" of the event in S1 holds even if both events happened in the past. In example 3 below, the speaker met his/her teacher on his/her way to the station, but in example 4, he/she met his/her teacher at the station. Note that if the event in S1 was not complete when S2 occurred, the tense used in S1 must be "present", even though both events occurred in the past.

Time (Past)		Main Event (Past)
	S1とき、	S2
3.	えきに行く時、	先生に会いました。	I met my teacher on my way to the station.
4.	えきに行った時、	先生に会いました。	I met my teacher after I arrived at the station.

If S1 refers to states or on-going/habitual activities in the past, S1 can be in the present or past tense without significant difference in meaning.

	Time (Past)	Main Event (Past)
	S1とき、	S2
	あつい時、	よく およぎました。	When it was hot, I often swam.
	あつかった時、
	びょうきの時、	薬(くすり)を飲みました。	When I was sick, I took the medicine.
	びょうきだった時、
	テレビを見ている時、		When I was watching TV, I had a phone call.
	テレビを見ていた時、	電話がありました。

To apologize, the て form is used to refer to a situation that the speaker is apologizing for.

• レポートのしめきりにおくれて、もうしわけございません。
  I'm so sorry I passed the deadline for the report. [Said to a boss]
  
  
• 宿題(しゅくだい)をわすれて、すみません。
  I'm sorry I have forgotten (to bring) my homework. [Said to a teacher]
  
  
• おそくなって、ごめん。
  Sorry for being late. [Said to a friend]
  
  
• 料理(りょうり)がからくて、ごめんなさい。
  Sorry for my food being spicy hot. [Said to a friend]

When you apologize, do not state a reason/excuse in the て form part. The second statement below does not sound like a good apology. Add the reason/excuse only if you are asked to provide it.

• ミーティングにおくれて、もうしわけございません。[a good example]
• 電車が事故(じこ)でおくれて、もうしわけございません。[a bad example]

To speak about your difficulty, we can also use the て form. Since the て form itself lacks any tense information, its tense is determined by the context (often by the ending part of the sentence).

• 道にまよって、こまっています。
  I am lost and I'm having difficulty.
  
  
• きのうは銀行(ぎんこう)がお休みで、こまりました。
  The bank was closed yesterday, and I had difficulties.

Sometimes, the tense of the て form needs to be understood from the context.

• テストの点(てん)がわるくて、おちこんでいます。
  My test score was bad, and I'm depressed.

The negative て form is ～なくて:

• プリンがいい子じゃなくて、すみません。
  Purin is not a good dog --- I'm sorry.
  
  
• メールの返事(へんじ)をださなくて、すみません(でした)。
  I'm sorry I did not send you a reply email.
  
  
• コンピュータがつかえなくて、こまっています。
  I cannot use the computer and I'm having difficulty.
  
  
• お金がなくて、こまっています。
  I don't have money and I'm having difficulty.