Japanese with Manga

Help me if you're bored with 〜てちょうだい

Grammar Explanation: Requests with 〜てください and 〜てくれ

Maruko's mother looks over her shoulder with a scowl while frying something at the stove. Maruko stands in the corner of the kitchen.
ちびまる子ちゃん » Volume 7 » Page 59

Maruko wakes up early for once, because she fell asleep in the kotatsu the night before. Her mother is busy making breakfast in the kitchen. Maruko wanders in and complains that six in the morning is boring, with nothing good on TV.

お母(かあ)さん:
「じょうだんじゃないわよ　いそがしくてたまんないよ」
“Don't be ridiculous. I'm swamped.”
「ヒマなら手伝(てつだ)ってちょうだい」
“If you've got nothing to do, give me a hand.”

Key Points

1手伝(てつだ)ってちょうだい is a mother’s request to her child
  • 手伝(てつだ)って is the て-form of 手伝(てつだ)う, “to help”. ちょうだい after it turns the verb into a request: “help me”.
  • 〜てちょうだい is familiar and comes most often from women and from parents speaking to children. 手伝(てつだ)ってください would sound oddly distant toward her own daughter, and 手伝(てつだ)ってくれ would sound blunt and masculine.
  • Familiar isn’t the same as gentle. In this line ちょうだい carries an order, not a favor she hopes Maruko will grant.
2ヒマなら turns Maruko’s words against her
  • ヒマ (暇) means free time or having nothing to do. Maruko has just said the world at six in the morning is ヒマ.
  • なら means “if that’s the case”. It takes what the listener said as given and builds on it: if you’re so bored, then help.
3じょうだんじゃないわよ rejects Maruko’s complaint
  • じょうだん (冗談) means a joke. じょうだんじゃない, literally “that’s no joke”, means “don’t be ridiculous” or “no way”.
  • わよ adds emphasis in a traditionally feminine style. The mother is contradicting Maruko’s idea that the morning is idle.
4いそがしくてたまんない means unbearably busy
  • 〜てたまらない after an adjective means “so … I can’t stand it”. いそがしくて is the て-form of いそがしい, “busy”.
  • たまんない is a casual contraction of たまらない, with ら becoming ん before な.

Vocabulary

(Joke)

じょうだん is the kana spelling of 冗談(じょうだん), something said to make people laugh rather than meant seriously. じょうだんじゃない means “don’t be ridiculous” or “no way”.

(Not)

ない means something does not exist or someone does not have it. After a verb, it makes the verb negative. It is also written 無(な)い.

(Busy)

いそがしい is the kana spelling of 忙(いそが)しい. It describes having a lot to do and no time to spare.

(Unbearable; irresistible)

たまらない means something is too much to bear. After a て-form, as in いそがしくてたまらない, it means “so busy I can’t stand it”. It can also praise something as irresistible. In casual speech it often becomes たまんない.

(Free time)

ヒマ is free time with nothing to do. It is also written 暇(ひま).

(To help)

手伝(てつだ)う means to help someone with their work or chores by doing part of it.

(Give me; please)

ちょうだい is the kana spelling of 頂戴(ちょうだい). After a noun it means “give me”, and after a て-form verb it makes a familiar request, as in 呼(よ)んでちょうだい, “call me”. It sounds close and friendly, and women, children, and older people speaking to younger ones use it most.

See Also

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