# 食べにきたまえ



## 2PieRad

Hi, what's this funky verb form in red? I can guess that the sentence probably means _come to my place to eat a feast, _translated rather literally. 

きみ、ぼくのところへ、ごちそうを食べにきたまえ　Source

Is that supposed to be 来た前? 

Thanks


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## kaito

I believe the following to be the case.

き　＝＞　「来る」の連用形
たまえ　＝＞　「給う」の命令形

給う; 賜う 【たまう】 (v5u) (1) (arch) to receive; (2) to grant; to bestow; to award; (3) (male) semi-polite or endearing auxiliary verb indicating reception by the speaker (suffixed to the -masu stem of another verb)

In other words, it's a bit like　来てください, however I can't say more about the nuances of たまう than that dictionary entry tells.


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## 2PieRad

Seems to work. Thanks


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## Aoyama

I'd say, more than kite kudasai, it would rather be : kite kure / kite yo .


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## lammn

~たまえ verb form is the _imperative_ form used to speak with people ranking *lower* than you.

So the intonation of ~たまえ is not the same as ~てください.
Rather, it is much more similar to ~なさい.


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## kaito

I can agree on the きてくれ part, I just wanted say it's an auxiliary to ask/tell someone to do something for you (without saying this sentence ).
I'm no expert but on a second though なさい seems to be way different.

By the way, all so far mentioned auxiliaries are in an imperative form.


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## lammn

kaito said:


> I can agree on the きてくれ part, I just wanted say it's an auxiliary to ask/tell someone to do something for you (without saying this sentence ).


 
Kaito, I agree with you that ～たまえ is similar to ～てくれ in the sense that both forms have the meaning of ordering people to do things _for you._ However, the major difference between the two is that ～たまえ can only be used with people 目下 than you. ～たまえ has a *condescent* tone carry with it while ～てくれ does not.



kaito said:


> I'm no expert but on a second though なさい seems to be way different.


 
Both ~なさい and ～たまえ are imperative forms used with people 目下 than you. That's why I said they are "similar". Of course, I don't meant they are "identical". At least I seldom heard women use ～たまえ form but it is completely okay for women to say ~なさい.

I am also no expert on these. So anymore comments are welcomed.


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## kaito

The problem I see is that なさい is usually used by women to actually order their children around and actually means ~"do" but from the looks of たまえ, meaning bestow/grant, it seems more like asking someone to do something rather than telling them to do it, at least that's the impression that I get.
なさい・ください・たまえ・くれ are all imperative forms, so that fact shouldn't really be a factor (no pun intended) I think.


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## lammn

kaito said:


> The problem I see is that なさい is usually used by women to actually order their children around and actually means ~"do"


 
I'm afraid the usage of ~なさい is much more broader than "women ordering their children around to do things".

For example, teachers often use ~なさい to order their students to do things. Basically people of higher rank (not just women) can use the ~なさい forms. The only situation that one cannot use ~なさい is when you are speaking with people ranking higher or the same as you. I remember the time I used ~なさい to speak with my peers, I was corrected by people at once because I am not in a high enough position to use ~なさい.

Perhaps native-speakers can explain more on the use of ~なさい to enlighten us on the matter.


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## Aoyama

Food for thought :
Tabe te
Tabe te yo
Tabe te kure
Tabe ta mae
Tabe nasai
Tabe te kudasai
Meshi agatte
Meshi agatte kudasai
Omeshi agari ni natte kudasai (this one I'm not sure).
To be corrected ...


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