VocabularyJLPT N5 · core

貰う

もらう
hepburn morau

to receive

Part of speech · godan-verb

Pattern visualization

no decomposition available

Examples

  1. 友達から手紙をもらいました。
    I received a letter from my friend.
  2. 先生から本をいただきました。
    I humbly received a book from the teacher.

Collocations

もらう (morau, receive)いただく (itadaku, humbly receive)あげる (ageru, give)プレゼントをもらう (purezento o morau, get present)〜てもらう (te morau, have someone do)

Mnemonic

Morau (もらう) is a godan verb — "to receive." Together with ageru / kureru, it forms the give-receive triad. Humble register: itadaku (いただく). "Sensei kara hon o itadakimashita" sounds right with a teacher. The auxiliary use ~te morau is the key challenge — tomodachi ni tetsudatte moratta (I had my friend help me / my friend helped at my request) marks the speaker as the beneficiary of a requested action. The triad ~te morau / ~te kureru / ~te ageru is a Japanese-specific grammar layer for action directionality and gratitude, with no direct English / Korean equivalent. Korean "batda / batjao-da / batjap-da" has only formality, not directionality.

Quick check

  1. Natural verb when a teacher gave you a book?

Listed inJLPT N5 · core
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