# 動詞+つける



## kaven-ever

Hi!
Context: メンバー２人など合わせて３人が男に突然切りつけられてけがをした事件で...
From NHK.
I checked the grammar book, it says the "つける" can indicate direction, and in this case it fits well. But it seems to be like "ていき" or "てき" using which depends on context, doesn't it? For example, Can I say: メンバー２人など合わせて３人が男に突然切られてきてけがをした事件で...

Thanks in advance.


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## OED Loves Me Not

> ３人が男に突然切りつけられて


In that context, does "つける" really imply "direction"? 
I think it rather means something along these lines:


> 大辞林 第三版の解説
> 
> つける【付ける・着ける・附ける・点ける・跟ける】
> (12) 動詞の連用形に付ける。
> 1) その動作の激しいことを表す。
> 「どなり－・ける」 「にらみ－・ける」 「しかり－・ける」
> https://kotobank.jp/word/付ける・着ける・附ける・点ける・跟ける-330989


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## OED Loves Me Not

On second thought, kaven-ever, 
you may be the one who was right.
Maybe I was wrong.
In the case of "男が三人に切り*つけ*てきた," 
this "つけ" can be better understood 
as something marking "direction," 
as the dictionary definitions given below 
indicates:


> つ・ける【付ける／▽附ける／着ける／▽点ける】（Goo 辞書）
> 
> ９ （動詞の連用形に付いて）
> …
> *㋒その行為が、ある対象に向けられる意を表す。「言い―・ける」
> *…
> http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/leaf/jn2/147339/m0u/


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## kaven-ever

Hi, OED, thanks for quoting for me.
I notice you use てき in 男が三人に切り*つけてきた , isn't it ていき？"に" means "towards", doesn't it?*


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## OED Loves Me Not

kaven-ever said:


> Hi, OED, thanks for quoting for me.
> I notice you use てき in 男が三人に切り*つけてきた , isn't it ていき？"に" means "towards", doesn't it?*


You're absolutely right.  My sentence literally means something along these lines:
　　　The man came toward the three, cutting them.
　　　The man did the cutting action toward the three.

Therefore, in a little more idiomatic English, the sentence can perhaps be translated as:
　　　The man came cutting the three.

And it's not ”ていき".  It's "てき", just as I wrote it.


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## 810senior

kaven-ever said:


> For example, Can I say: メンバー２人など合わせて３人が男に突然切られてきてけがをした事件で...



It may be grammatically correct but sounds odd to me.
I would say instead "～突然切られてけがをした事件で" (切りつける and 切る are almost same in this point that indicates "to cut somebody/something")


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## Flaminius

The construction_ kiri-tsukeru_ is about the goal of an action and makes a better collocation with _kuru_ than with _iku_.
Yes, I think OLMN #3 _supra_ pointed to the right direction with the entry in Goo 辞書 (better cited as デジタル大辞泉).


> (ウ) その行為が、ある対象に向けられる意を表す。…


I find the examples taken from 大辞林 are more apt for this definition.


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## kaven-ever

Thank you, 810senior for the explanation for my "immature" sentence, and OED and Flaminius, very kind of you both.
But forgive my repetition, when I think of 男が三人に切り*つけてきた*. I imagine I was standing by the man looking at him, walking toward the triple, and committing this horrible crime(and why I would think I'm on the side of the man is because he is the subject in this sentence 男が). So according to my knowledge to the "てき", I would expect someone comes close to me, not far from. So it seems てき makes no sense.
And from what Flaminius said, it maybe the difference of thinking pattern, and I would happily accept it.


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## 810senior

I'm afraid I couldn't understand your sentence, just as the complement.

ていく = the action is in progress [人々が切りつけられていく] meaning *the people are being slashed*
てくる = the action is devoted to you [男が私に切りつけてくる] meaning *the man goes slash at me
*
As for 切りつけてきた, てき utterly means てくる due to its form of the past. (If it meant ていく, it should be ていった)


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## Flaminius

*kaven-ever*, you have a very keen sense of grammar.



> I imagine I was standing by the man looking at him


No doubt you are aware that viewpoint (or whom/what in the text the reader is supposed to empathize with) is an important aspect of the Japanese grammar.  The NHK text, however, expects readers to place their viewpoint on 三人.  Why?  1. The news item is probably about the three (presumably singers from a famous group) and NOT about the assailant.  If the Prime Minister of Japan assaults a postman with a knife, there will be hell of reports about the PM.  2. Grammar gives out some clues too.  First, the subject for けがをした事件で is the three.  This makes them the topic of the sentence and possibly of the few following sentences.  Second, while you probably know (from the forgoing passage not quoted here) who those three are, you know next to nothing about 男 (except that he delivered knife blows).  In the background, the three are definite and the man is indefinite.  In conclusion, "the three" is more likely to get the viewpoint of the reader than the assailant.

If the viewpoint is on the three members of whatevergroupihavenointerestinfindingout, you, the reader, are standing beside the victims and watch them receive knife blows; hence the verb choice.


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