314 CHAPTER 6. LANGUAGE PATTERNSequal social status, the difference in social level determines which verb is
used:1) if the receiving is from someone of equal or higher status, (
+ +) is used.
2) if the receiving is from someone of significantly higher status, (
+ +) is used.You may recognise from its polite present tense:
, which is used as a set phrase, spoken before starting a meal. Liter-
ally, this phrase means ”I (humbly) receive (this food)” or ”I will (humbly)
help myself to (this food)”. Both meanings are essentially simultaneously
true, which highlights an interesting aspect of ”receiving” in Japanese: just
as ”giving” and ”doing for (someone)” are considered essentially the same
thing, so too ”receiving”, ”having done for” and ”helping oneself to (some-
thing)” are considered the same thing.
When the verbs and are used on their own, then the
”receiving” as well as the ”helping oneself” interpretation are possible, and
when used combined with a + combination, the interpretation is
typically ”having (something) done for (someone)”:
”(I) received the book I lent aunty from her again.””(I) got bought a new bicycle by my father.”When the activity in question involves direct contact, may also
be substituted by , which rather literally means ”from”:”(I) received the book I lent aunty from her again.”The interesting fact about these statements is that they can also be
interpreted as quite selfish: both and have an element of
prompted action to them. Rather than things being given, or acts being
performed out of the kindness of people’s hearts, we are in some way re-