How to use ～てもらう (~te morau): A Streetwise JLPT N4 Grammar Guide

September 11, 2025

How to use ～てもらう (~te morau): A Streetwise JLPT N4 Grammar Guide

俺おれの代かわりに金かねを洗浄せんじょうしてもらった。
I had them launder the money for me.

Category: Giving & Receiving, N4 Grammar

What up, yo? Today we’re gonna break down a real smooth move in Japanese, てもらう (te morau). This ain’t about takin’ orders, nah. It’s like when you ask your crew to do a job for you, and they come through. This grammar pattern translates to “to have someone do something for you.”

This whole thing is about receiving a service or an action from someone else. It’s not about you just doing something. It’s about them doing it for you. You’re the one benefiting from their action. Think of it like this: you’re the don, and you got a problem. You call up your guys, and they handle it for you. This grammar pattern is what you use to say, “My guy handled it for me.”

The Difference: てくれる vs. てもらう

Alright, so you got てもらう, right? That’s when you’re the one gettin’ the favor, and you’re the main dude in the sentence. It’s all about your perspective. But then you got its cousin, てくれる (te kureru). That’s for when you’re talkin’ about someone else doin’ something for you. The difference is subtle, but it’s like the difference between The Godfather and GoodFellas—same world, different style.

Think of it like this:

てもらう (te morau) is when you’re the one asking for the favor. The focus is on you receiving the benefit. You’re the main character in the story. You’d say, “I had my brother hide the cash for me.” You also use this when you pay for a service, like when a crew member does a job for you and you’re paying them. You’re still the one receiving the service, but it’s not a favor, it’s a paid job.
てくれる (te kureru) is when you’re talkin’ about the person giving the favor. The focus is on their action. You’d say, “My brother hid the cash for me.” The emphasis is on them doing the action, not on you getting the benefit, even though you did. It’s like they’re doing a solid for you out of the goodness of their heart, no strings attached.

It’s all about who’s in the driver’s seat of the sentence. With てもらう, you’re the one in the driver’s seat. With てくれる, the person who did the action is.

Here’s how you put the pieces together, just like plannin’ a heist.

Verb Form	Conjugation	Japanese Example	English Translation
て-form + もらう	書かいてもらう	ボスに手紙てがみを書かいてもらった。	I had the boss write the letter for me.

Alright, so to use this thing, you gotta get the verb into its て-form, which is like the command form of the word. After you got that, you just slap on もらう (morau) at the end. It’s that simple. It’s like makin’ a call to the right guy. You got the name of the job, which is the て-form, and then you got the request, which is もらう. When you put ’em together, you’re sayin’, “Yo, this guy did this for me.” When you’re using てもらう, the person who did the favor for you is marked by the particle に, while you, the one who got the favor, are the subject of the sentence, marked by が or は.

Here’s a list of some words you might hear on the streets.

手下 (てした)

English: Henchman; follower; subordinate.

Yo, every kingpin got his crew, right? The dudes that roll deep with you. These cats, they ain’t the boss, but they handle the dirty work. They your soldiers, your muscle, your right-hand men. When you need somethin’ done, they the ones you call on to make it happen, no questions asked. They loyal to a fault, ’cause they eat when you eat.

弾丸 (だんがん)

English: Bullet.

This right here, that’s the final word, the punctuation at the end of a sentence. A dangan, that’s the slug you load up, the one thing that turns a pistol into a problem. It ain’t just a piece of lead; it represents the ultimate power, the threat that keeps everyone in line. You hear that sound? That click-clack? It’s the promise of what’s comin’ next. It’s the last thing you see before the fade to black.

弟分 (おとうとぶん)

English: Protégé; apprentice; junior member.

Check it. An otoutobun is your younger cat, the one you bring up under your wing. He ain’t just a regular dude; he’s family. You teach him the game, show him the ropes, protect him from the snakes. He owes you his loyalty, his respect, and in return, you put him on. He’s the one you trust to carry the name, to keep the legacy alive when you ain’t around.

捏造する (ねつぞうする)

English: To fabricate; to falsify; to fake.

Yo, when you runnin’ the streets, the truth is just a story you tell. Netsuzou suru is when you make up a whole new reality. You cookin’ the books, flippin’ the script, creatin’ a lie so believable it fools everyone. It’s how you frame an enemy, how you cover your tracks, how you make a problem disappear without leavin’ a trace. It’s the art of deception, the game of smokes and mirrors.

処分する (しょぶんする)

English: To dispose of; to get rid of.

Listen up. When you got somethin’ you don’t need no more—whether it’s a piece of evidence, a busted-up car, or a whole problem—you gotta shobun suru. This ain’t just throwin’ somethin’ in the trash. It’s makin’ sure it’s gone for good, disappeared, wiped off the face of the earth. It’s a clean operation, leavin’ no trail, no loose ends. It’s how you stay ghost and keep the heat off your back.