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Wouldn't 連れてくれよ be exactly the same?

naruto
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Simon
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1 Answers1

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There is a subsidiary verb (-て)いく. To break down:

  • 連れる: "to accompany/take"
  • 連れて: the te-form of 連れる
  • 連れていく: (-て)いく added
  • 連れてく: the contracted version of 連れていく; see this chart
  • 連れてって: the te-form of 連れてく; the te-form is not 連れていて because てく still conjugates irregularly like 行く

連れてよ or 連れてくれよ would make no sense in this context. (-て)いく is a very important subsidiary verb, and failing to add it would make the sentence sound awfully wrong. Whenever you want to say "to take [someone] (to somewhere)", you need either いく, くる, or keigo equivalents of them.

naruto
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  • Thank you, these contractions are getting hard to spot... Can you elaborate on why it would sound bad without ていく? 連れてくれよ means "Can you take me with you", no? – Simon Jul 30 '21 at 10:46
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    No. If I were to hear someone say "つれてくれよ", my most probable intepretation is that the person is fishing and is impatient that he/she hasn't been able to fish anything for today (i.e. "釣れてくれよ") – Hirotaka Sato Jul 30 '21 at 10:51
  • @Simon No, it sounds terribly unnatural. I know subsidiary verbs are difficult to English speakers, but we need them for whatever reason... – naruto Jul 30 '21 at 10:57
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    @Simon As noted by Hirotaka Sato, 連れて alone could be interpreted quite differently. There is nothing in 連れて that has any meaning about "coming or going" anywhere. That has to be supplied by a verb of motion. If you're not talking about fishing, then 連れてくれよ is almost like saying, "Along please!" You might be understood, but it just sounds wrong or weird. In English, when we say "Take me with you!" we're implicitly saying that "you" are going someplace. Japanese wants us to spell that out. – A.Ellett Jul 30 '21 at 16:36