auxiliary N4 common casualpolite

〜てくれない — won't you ~? / can I get you to ~? (request)

〜てくれない・てくれない

Builds on て形

Meaning

won't you ~ (for me)? — a casual request made as a negative question on the benefactive てくれる

Key sentence

ちょっと手伝てつだってくれない？

Won't you help me out a bit?

Formation

Attaches to	Form	Example
verb te-form	[verb-て] + くれない（？）	窓まどを開あけてくれない

When: A soft request to family, friends, or juniors. Asking with the negative is gentler than the bare command; rising intonation makes it a request.

Examples

その塩しおを取とってくれない？

Could you pass me that salt?

明日あしたまでにこれを確認かくにんしてくれない？

Could you check this by tomorrow?

ちょっと静しずかにしてくれないかな。

Could you be a bit quieter, please?

When you can't use it

Phrased as the listener's favor toward you, so the doer is the listener — you can't use it to volunteer your own action. Too casual for a superior or a customer; use ていただけませんか there.

Easily confused with

ていただけませんか Same negative-question request, opposite ends of the politeness scale: てくれない is casual/in-group; ていただけませんか is the keigo version for superiors and strangers. てくださいてください is a direct polite instruction; てくれない softens it into a question that leaves the listener room to decline.

Notes

てくれる？ (the plain affirmative) works the same way; the negative てくれない？ just sounds a touch more tentative and polite.

See 〜てくれない in real sentences

Jengo shows 〜てくれない the way you actually meet it: inside real Japanese sentences, so it sticks instead of staying an abstract rule.

Study it in Jengo

Sources Compiled from published Japanese grammar references.

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