くれる VS もらう Grammar point

Japanese
#1

If I encounter a sentence that needs me to point out the receiver and the giver of the action, I can comprehend it. But I am unable to do the opposite, filling in the right verb according to the statement.

For example in the following question:

祖母が私に花を＿＿＿。

Choices:

  • あげた
  • くれた
  • もらった

My approach to the question was, if the action is of “being given”, あげる and くれる would fit, but as 私 is the person receiving, くれる would fit in this case and あげる is out. “Grandmother gave me flowers.”

But if the action is of “receiving from”, もらう would fit here. “Grandmother received flowers from me.”

Both くれる and もらう make sense to me. But the answer is くれる. Or is there too less context to judge the answer?
How to choose the verb in a situation like this.
Does anyone have tricks to make these verbs easier to understand?

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#2

would you mind to teach me grammar?

#3

How am i supposed to teach if i dont have my own basics down lol

#4

what do you mean ? okey sorry for that i don’t know that i’m just new here i’m just looking for a friend that are willing to help me study japanese grammar sense our jlpt exam is this coming july 5

#5

the confusion is probably mainly that with もらう the subject is the receiver, hence it changes perspective in comparison with くれる and あげる

祖母が私に花をくれた = grandmother gave flowers to me (works)
祖母が私に花をあげた = grandmother gave flowers to me (unnatural though, you wouldn’t use あげる when the receiver is you)
祖母が私に花をもらった = grandmother received flowers from me (祖母 is the subject of the sentence, hence the receiver. The giver is marked with に, in this case you)
私が祖母に花をもらった = I received flowers from my grandmother

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#6

ooppp why??

#7

In the sentence you provided, if we take もらった then its being framed as “My grandmother got flowers (from someone)” so to make it a sentence with YOU as the giver, is rather weird. It would be more natural to mark your grandmother with に and say 花をあげた at that point.

もらう makes it sound like you’re an observer or describing an event, at least to me.

Imagine in English saying “My grandmother got flowers from me” it sounds a little strange right? You’d be far more likely to say “I gave flowers to my grandmother” as the first is just odd framing yourself into the objective sounding third party view of the scenario.

So I don’t think もらった is impossible, its just odd here and is a structure that heavily suggests くれた instead.

If the に marked noun wasn’t 私, but was instead someone else entirely like a policeman

祖母がおまわりさんに花をもらった

I don’t think this has anything wrong with it. But in the other scenario when you are marking yourself with に it just sounds odd.

TLDR
もらった Isn’t wrong just strange with you as the “giver”
I gave flowers to my grandmother - Normal
My grandmother received flowers from me - Odd sounding, but not ungrammatical
My grandmother received flowers from the policeman - Normal

This is the best way I can try to map it to English, but someone else can probably do a better job.

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