59008
I've always understood the direction of くれる as such:

> Outsider ⇒くれる⇒ Me / In-group

and あげる as:

> Me / In-group ⇒あげる⇒ Outsider

I was told this direction marks your feeling towards a person as well, so if I
were to say:

> お隣さんはオヤジにお土産をあげた。

Here using あげる instead of くれる strongly implies that something is wrong with
the relationship between you and your old man.

Yet, くれる is used in a sample sentence from a dictionary (研究社):

> 彼はこじきに一番よい上着をくれてやった。

Why does the dictionary use くれる when 彼 is the giver and こじき is the receiver?
Is this usage expressing sympathy towards the beggar, or does what follows
(てやる) has more to do with it than direction?
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-05-27T07:20:18.597
59006
2022-01-22T22:14:09.273
2022-01-22T22:14:09.273
30454
27674
question
grammar giving-and-receiving
The direction of くれる and あげる: Is 「彼はこじきに一番よい上着をくれてやった。」 a wrong usage?
「くれてやる」 is an _**arrogant**_ way of saying 「与{あた}える」("to give"). Person A is
giving something to another person whom Person A considers to be lower in
status than him/herself.

In other words, 「くれてやる」 roughly has the same meaning as 「あげる/やる」 and _**not**_
「くれる」. I know it is confusing, but it just needs to be remembered as a set
phrase.

Thus, in the sentence:

> 「彼{かれ}はこじきに一番{いちばん}よい上着{うわぎ}をくれてやった。」
>
> "He gave the beggar his best jacket."

the speaker is in the same in-group as 「彼」 and the speaker is being arrogant
in using 「くれてやった」 ("gave"). The speaker clearly feels that both s/he and 彼 are
higher in status than the beggar.

Therefore, the usage of 「くれてやる」 here is completely correct as long as the
speaker feels s/he is superior.
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-05-27T07:58:28.547
59008
2018-05-27T07:58:28.547
2020-06-17T08:18:27.500
-1
59006
answer