# 聞いてくれ



## Shatin

Two scenes from TV dramas. in both scenes, there is no one else around.


Scene 1
Boy to girl:  聞いてくれ!


Scene 2
Girl to boy: キスして！


Is くれ in the first sentence optional? If not, why?


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## YangMuye

I might be wrong. I think して seems milder and is almost the most frequent used form by females.

聞け, 聞いてくれ, 聞いてください
聞きなさい, 聞いて, 聞いてください

The second serious seems milder than the first one and has a more polite form.


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## Shatin

Thanks Muye for the reply!

Apparently the subject of my post has been changed by the moderator and so others may not understand why I ask the question. 

聞いてくれ Listen to me!

キスして Kiss me!

in both cases someone is asking the other person to do something to him/her. くれ is used in one case but not the other. I was wondering if this has something to do with the verbs. It didn't occur to me that it's simply a matter of gender preference. Perhaps this is the explanation. Comments from anyone else?


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## YangMuye

Both sets are used by males and females.
I don't think it has much to do with verbs... Consider:
結婚して
結婚してくれ

The subtle difference is not what I can tell.
A native speaker may explains better.

I generally think して is short for してください rather than してくれ.

してくれ is a very direct demand showing your volition, although comparing with 聞け/聞きなさい, with してくれ it's still the listener who decide if he will refuse or not.
して and してください are soft requests. They are often used to give hints or advice too.

I find してくれ is usually used with よ while して is usually used with ね. (Females use してよ a lot, though)

Another thing I find is when the listener does not seem to (be willing to) fulfill your request, you tend use してくれ rather than して.


It seems to me that:
Males trend to use more direct, volitional or sometimes even rude (男らしい?) forms when speaking with friends and families, and formal and respectful form when talking with strangers.
Females trend to use casual polite forms or casual contracted respect forms (上品?) even when speaking with friends and families.

EDIT:

I think 聞いてくれ！ is usually 聞いてくれ, because it a very strong request.
But ここに待っていて is good without くれ.
して sounds like that the speaker and listener are intimate and the listener will not refuse.
It is mainly used with close friends and families.

-----

It seems that the してくれ in 聞いてくれ is used to express emotional pleas.
聞いてください can be used too.
聞いて is less likely to be used here.

----

I have seen males use して many times. Usually the listener is a female. Maybe the speaker want to behave gently.

It's also often used to show kindness (you an use てください too):
気を付けて
元気で
また来て


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## nagoyano

'Kure' is an additional element to expressions of request.
'Kure' is originally the imperative form of 'kureru', an expression to ask for favours.
When we add '--kure' at the end of an expression of request, it means a strong request.
It is a casual and possibly vulgar expression.
We use '--kure' for the requests to intimate people, usually equal in status.


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## Shatin

I have always understood くれ to be sort of polite form of ください. However, when I read 聞いてくれ being translated as "Listen to me", I got a bit confused. For example, if I say 聞いて, I might not necessarily ask you listen to what I am going to say. Perhaps I heard some sound (music, noise), I want you to listen to it. OTOH, when I say 聞いてくれ, I want you to listen to what I am going to say. I was wondering if there is this kind of nuance with and without くれ.


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## YangMuye

Do you mean "くれ" has something to so with "to me"?
I don't think so.
You can't omit "to me", "for me" or any "... Me" in Chinese imperative form, but they are normally omitted in Japanese.

聞いて/聞け is both "listen" and "listen to me".
Sometimes you even need to add "あげて" when the object is not you.
教えてあげて
やらせてあげて


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## Firewall

I think you have it backwards Shatin, like nagoyano said, くれ is more casual and ください is more polite.  I think 聞いてくれ isn't necessarily listen _to me_, but rather listen to [something] for_ my sake,_ where the [something] can be the speaker or some other sound.


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## polo111

I'm sorry I can't read all the former posts.

I think "くれ" sounds manly, directly or rough. In contrast, "～して"　sounds like womanly, indirectly or gently.

Boys use"くれ" and girls use"して" in common stereotypes which animations prefer for emphasizing characters, although it's not so clear in real.


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