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The sentence is from a Japanese telling of Hansel and Gretel and I know enough to read it as "Leave your children in the forest before it is too late."

What I don't understand here is how すてる has been modified by きておくれ. What does that き relate to? Is it part of すててき to change (discard) somehow or is it something like (leave)(come here)(without delay)?

Simon Gill
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  • Please see http://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/676/difference-between-%E3%81%A6%E3%81%84%E3%81%8F-and-%E3%81%A6%E3%81%8F%E3%82%8B and the linked questions on the right hand side. – Earthliŋ Jun 25 '15 at 22:11
  • おくれ here is not related to 遅れる【おくれる】 "to be late", but rather to the imperative くれ (similar to ください) prefixed with honorific お-. See also: http://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/13334/ – senshin Jun 25 '15 at 22:14
  • @Earthliŋ I have no idea what I'm looking for on that link. Can't see how いく maps to きて. – Simon Gill Jun 25 '15 at 22:28
  • @senshin So if おくれ is the imperative, what does きて mean? – Simon Gill Jun 25 '15 at 22:29
  • @SimonGill すててきて is parsed as [す]{捨}てて + [き]{来}て and we have a bunch of questions about this structure, so I linked it here in case you're interested. すててくる literally means something like "go throw away and come back", so as per the question senshin linked すててきておくれ "Please go and cast [our children] away (and then come back)" – Earthliŋ Jun 25 '15 at 22:37
  • @Earthliŋ I know it's noddy, but would you mind turning your comment that reminded me about the verb irregularity of くる into an answer so I can accept it? – Simon Gill Jun 25 '15 at 22:45

1 Answers1

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As per the comments, you should parse すててきておくれ as すてて + きて + おくれ.

  • Without changing the content or function you can replace おくれ by ください (more about おくれ here)、

  • すてて is the te-form of すてる (here) "to cast away",

  • きて is the te-form of くる "to come [back]",

  • Xてくる is a common construction of saying "to go, do X [and then return]", but as indicated you might not necessarily translate the くる as "return"

  • Xてください is the construction for phrasing a request "Please do X"

すてて + きて + ください
Please go cast away [the children] [and come back when you're done]

Earthliŋ
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