～てもらう
receive favor of action
～てもらう is made by taking the て-form of a verb and adding もらう (“to receive”). It shows that the speaker receives the favor of someone else doing an action.
In English it maps to “have someone do” or “get someone to do”. The receiver of the favor is the subject, and the person who does the action is marked with に.
1. Receiving the favor of an action
The sentence is told from the receiver’s point of view: “I received the action of (person に) doing X.”
先生に教えてもらった。
“I had the teacher teach me.”
- 先生（せんせい）= teacher
- に = marks the person who does the action for you
- 教えてもらった（おしえてもらった）= had (them) teach me
友達に駅まで送ってもらいました。
“I had a friend take me to the station.”
- 友達（ともだち）= friend
- に = marks the person doing the favor
- 駅（えき）= station
- まで = as far as / up to
- 送ってもらいました（おくってもらいました）= had (them) take me
2. Polite requests with ～てもらえますか
Turning もらう into the potential question ～てもらえますか (“could I receive...?”) makes a polite request.
写真を撮ってもらえますか。
“Could you take a picture for me?”
- 写真（しゃしん）= photo
- を = object marker
- 撮ってもらえますか（とってもらえますか）= could (I) have you take (it)?
Compare with ～てくれる: both describe the same event, but ～てくれる makes the helper the subject (友達が手伝ってくれた = My friend helped me), while ～てもらう makes the receiver the subject and marks the helper with に (友達に手伝ってもらった = I (implied) received help from a friend).
How to form it
Person に + Verb て-form + もらう
- 教える（おしえる）= to teach → 教えてもらう（おしえてもらう）= have (someone) teach me
- 手伝う（てつだう）= to help → 手伝ってもらう（てつだってもらう）= have (someone) help me
- 送る（おくる）= to take (someone somewhere) → 送ってもらう（おくってもらう）= have (someone) take me
Key idea
もらう means “to receive”. With ～てもらう, what you receive is an action done as a favor. The sentence is told from the receiver's perspective, and the person performing the action is marked with に.
Built on the same stem
Updated .