Japanese Grammar In Its Natural Habitat
Wild Nihongo!
てくる

てくる

てくる Japanese Grammar Lesson

Grammar Type: Irregular Auxiliary Verb

Essential Meaning: Start to X / Begin to X / Continue to X (indicates the beginning or continuation of some process)

Construction: 

  • Verb て-Form + くる
    • E.g. 太ふとってくる [Begin to gain weight / Continue to gain weight]
    • E.g. なってくる [Begin to become X / Continue to become X]

Notes:

  • てくる expresses the beginning of some state / process or the continuation of some state / process up to the current point. It roughly translates to “Begin to X“, “Start to X“, or “Continue to X“.
  • When てくる expresses the beginning of a state or process, the main verb must be durative and convey some process that takes time to complete or come to fruition (e.g. なる [To become], 分わかる [To understand]、太ふとる [To gain weight], やせる [To lose weight]). A process is durative by definition, and it generally involves some form of personal change or growth. For example, getting fat takes time and involves bodily change.
    • E.g. 私わたしはこのごろ太ふとってきました。[Lately I’ve started to gain weight.]
    • E.g. あの子こはこのごろずいぶんきれいになってきたね。[Lately that girl has started to become very pretty.]
  • When てくる expresses the continuation of a state or process up to the current point in time, any durative verb is acceptable. It is often used to express an action that one has been doing habitually up to the present.
    • E.g. 今いままでたくさん本ほんを読よんできましたが、これからも読よんでいくつもりです。[I’ve read many books up to this point, and from this point on I plan to continue doing so.]
    • E.g. 今いままで遊あそんできましたが、これからは一生懸命いっしょけんめい勉強べんきょうするつもりです。[I’ve been playing around up to this point, but from now on I plan to work as hard as I can.]
  • てくる implies that the speaker is emotionally or personally involved in the action or process. To describe the inception or continuation of a process from a more neutral and emotionally uninvested perspective, you can use ~はじめる.
  • Be careful not to confuse the auxiliary verb てくる with the regular て-Form + くる. The difference in meaning can be understood contextually.
    • E.g. 私わたしは会社かいしゃにバスに乗のってきます。[I took the bus and went to work.] Riding the bus and going to work are clearly two distinct events that are connected by the て-Form. As stated above, the initiation of a process is only interpreted as てくる if the verb implies some sort of change or process.
    • E.g. 四時よじまでには帰かえってきてください。[Please come home before 4 o’clock.] This is an example of て-Form + くる for the some reasons as above.

Example Sentences:

私わたしはコンピューターが少すこしわかってきた。[I’ve begun to slightly understand computers.]

私わたしはいろいろ日本にほんの歴史書れきししょを読よんできた。[I’ve been reading various Japanese history texts.]

テニスをしていたら急きゅうに雨あめが降ふってきた。[We were playing tennis when it suddenly began to rain.]

午後ごごから頭あたまが痛いたくなってきました。[From the afternoon, my head began to hurt.]

WILD Examples:

The first line of this song is いなせだな、夏なつを連つれてきた人ひと [Dashing, aren’t they? The people who have been begun bringing summer along with them.] This sentence doesn’t translate into English very well, but the basic idea is that people have begun arriving at the beach and bringing with them a summery vibe.
Listen to this lyric at 0:41: 心こころが体からだを追おい越こしてきたんだよ [My heart begins to overtake my body]
Listen to this line from 1:00: そしたら、力ちからがもりもり湧わいてきた [After that, our energy begins to well up vigorously]
Listen for this line at 1:56: いつも気きのむくまま、一人ひとり生いきてきた [Always living on a whim, continuing my life all alone]

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