ABSTRACT
Reflecting the socio-cultural emphasis on gift-giving, the Japanese language is rich in expressions relating to the acts of giving and receiving. This chapter describes the basic and auxiliary uses of the verbs of giving and receiving. The Japanese language has several different verbs for giving. Among them, two are basic: ageru for outward giving and kureru for inward giving. The Japanese language has a verb for receiving, morau receive, which is different from the English verb receive in two respects. First, the meaning of morau is inward receiving. The transacted object must move toward the speaker. The verbs of giving and receiving are also used as auxiliary verbs in combination with te-forms in the form of -te ageru, -te kureru, and -te morau. Grammar points are followed by contextualized examples and exercises which allow students to reinforce and consolidate their learning.
