October 14, 2025

How to use ～てくる (~te kuru): A Streetwise JLPT N4 Grammar Guide

最近さいきん、白髪しらがが増ふえてきた。ストレスかな。
Lately, my gray hairs have been increasing. Maybe it’s stress.

Look, on paper, てくる means an action “comes” toward you. But the real nuance, the street meaning, is all about a change or action that started in the past and is rollin’ up into the present. It’s about the build-up. Think about when you start feelin’ a rap beat. It doesn’t just appear, right? It builds up, the bass kicks in, and you start noddin’ your head. That feeling that started and is now with you? That’s the vibe of てくる. It can also mean you go do somethin’ and then come back, like you’re makin’ a move and then returnin’ to the safe house.

Peep this. Imagine you’re on your corner, mindin’ your business. A low-rider appears way down the block. That’s the past. It starts rollin’ slow, gettin’ closer. You can hear the bass thumpin’. The action started back there, but it’s movin’ toward you right now. That whole journey from down the block to right in front of you is てくる. The action started, continued, and has now arrived. You feel me? That’s how this grammar works—it connects the past to the present, right where you standin’.

Here’s the 4-1-1 on how to conjugate this joint.

Verb Class	てくる Form	Example	Translation
Godan (u-verbs) 盗ぬすむ	盗ぬすんでくる	金きんを盗ぬすんでくる	I’m gonna go steal the money (and come back).
Ichidan (ru-verbs) 食たべる	食たべてくる	食たべてきた	I’ve already eaten (and came here).
Irregular する	してくる	電話でんわしてきた	He called me.
Irregular 来くる	来きてくる	友達ともだちが来きてくれる	My friend will come for me.

Conjugatin’ this is easier than a two-bit hustle. All you gotta do is take any verb, flip it into its て-form, and then just slap くる on the end. That’s it. It don’t matter if it’s a u-verb, ru-verb, or some irregular player like する or くる. Get the te-form, add くる, and you’re golden. The くる part can then conjugate just like the normal verb 来る, so you get きた (past), こない (negative), etc. Easy money.