～てくる

～てくる is made by taking the て-form of a verb and adding くる（来る, to come）. Literally it means “do something and come”, and from there it grew to cover changes that arrive in the present.

In English it maps to expressions like “go and do (then come back)”, “start to do”, or “has been getting”.

1. Doing something and coming (back)

Use ～てくる when someone does an action somewhere else and then comes to where the speaker is. It's very common when leaving to run an errand.

2. A change that has emerged up to now

～てくる also describes a change that began or developed and has now reached the speaker’s present moment.

The same pattern works for gradual change: だんだん寒くなってきた means “it has gradually been getting colder (up to now)”. For a change that continues from now into the future, use ～ていく instead.

How to form it

Verb て-form + くる（past: ～てきた）

• 買う（かう）= to buy → 買ってくる（かってくる）= go buy (and come back)
• 降る（ふる）= to fall (rain) → 降ってくる（ふってくる）= start to fall
• なる = to become → なってくる = start getting, come to be

Key idea

～てくる points toward the speaker, in space (someone comes here) or in time (a change comes up to the present moment of “now”).