てくれませんか — Would you please do (for me)
A polite request asking someone to do something for the speaker. More polite than てくれない, less formal than ていただけませんか.
Structure
[Verb te-form] + くれませんか
Examples
もう少し大きい声で話してくれませんか。
Mō sukoshi ōkii koe de hanashite kuremasen ka.
Could you speak a little louder?
話して + くれませんか = polite request
この荷物を持ってくれませんか。
Kono nimotsu o motte kuremasen ka.
Could you carry this luggage?
持って + くれませんか
すみません、写真を撮ってくれませんか。
Sumimasen, shashin o totte kuremasen ka.
Excuse me, could you take a photo for me?
撮って + くれませんか = polite request to take a photo
• Request politeness: てくれない (casual) < てくれませんか (polite) < ていただけませんか (very polite/formal). • Summary: てくれませんか is appropriate for most daily situations with strangers or semi-formal contexts.
Commonly confused with
The JLPT rarely asks whether you recognise a pattern — it asks which of several similar patterns fits. These are the ones てくれませんか is tested against.
vs ていただけませんか
ていただけませんか uses the humble もらう→いただく and is more formal/deferential; てくれませんか is polite but a step less formal.
vs てくれない
てくれない is the casual peer-level version; てくれませんか adds ます-politeness for strangers or semi-formal settings.
vs てもらえませんか
てもらえませんか frames the favor from the speaker's receiving side and is roughly equally polite; てくれませんか frames it from the doer's side.
More expressions
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