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In A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar in the ~nasai section it has this
example sentence: "早くうちに帰って来なさいよ。" with translation "Come home early, OK?".

I'm aware of the general difference between 帰る and 来る but why both? How would
the meaning of the sentence change if there was only one or the other? Why not
"帰なさい"? (which I assume is ungrammatical because I had to fight autocomplete
to type it)
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2017-01-29T03:31:46.583
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2017-02-03T09:38:49.760
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question
grammar verbs
Why does this sentence have 帰って来なさい?
Well, both "早く帰りなさい" and "早く帰ってきなさい", pretty much mean the same.

Explaining the difference in theory I would say that saying "帰ってきなさい" would be
used for example, when a mother is at home and telling her child to come home,
as opposed to if she was out shopping or something and sending the child home
from the shops by his/herself, saying "早く帰りなさい", specifically sending the
child home when she was not at home.

But, again, in reality, in practice if I was at home, I could not tell you
when I would use either phrase and in what situation, as it would most likely
be up to how I was feeling at that time. That is how close they are in
meaning. Away from home, I would not use "帰ってきなさい".
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2017-01-29T10:11:46.913
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answer
帰ってくる is a compound verb made of 帰る and 来る. Sometimes the second verb of a
compound verb becomes a subsidiary verb and changes its meaning slightly, but
it does not in this case.

I think you were confused because these two verbs are both related to "move".
I would like to add one more 行く here.

Although 来る and 行く are usually translated to come and go, they are slightly
different.

  * 来る means "The subject moves toward the speaker's place."
  * 行く means "The subject moves away from the speaker's place."

On the other hand, in English, the listener's place matters.

Also,

  * 帰る means "The subject moves to the place it belongs to."

(Note: "it belongs to" is relative. For example: 出先から会社に帰る。 (from the field to
the office), 会社から家に帰る。 (from the office to home))

So,

  * 早く帰りなさい (Move to where you belong to.)
  * 早く来なさい (Move to where I am.)
  * 早く行きなさい (Move away from where I am.)
  * 早く帰って来なさい (Move to where you belong to and to where I am.)
  * 早く帰って行きなさい (Move to where you belong to and away from where I am.)

早くうちに帰って来なさいよ。and 早くうちに帰りなさいよ。 are almost the same as far as the speaker is at
listener's home. Otherwise, the former does not make sense.
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2017-02-03T08:01:57.923
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answer