〜てくる（変化・移動） “to come to ~” / “to start to ~” — expressing gradual change or movement toward the speaker
【Meaning】 Used to express one of two closely related ideas: that a change has been gradually occurring up to the present moment, or that someone or something moves in a direction toward the speaker. In both cases, てくる carries an essential sense of directionality — something is moving, shifting, or developing in a way that arrives at, or converges upon, the speaker’s present position in time or space.
Note: てくる is one of those expressions that reveals how deeply spatial thinking is embedded in Japanese grammar. The くる (来る) at its core is not decorative — it carries genuine directional meaning. Just as physical movement くる means “to come (toward here),” grammatical てくる means a change or process is moving in a direction that reaches the speaker’s present moment. Understanding this spatial metaphor is the key to feeling てくる naturally, rather than merely memorizing it.
【English Translation】 “to start to ~” / “to come to ~” / “to begin to ~” / “to gradually ~” / “to come and ~” Expresses either a gradual change that has developed up to the present, or a physical action performed while moving toward the speaker.
Note: The change meaning of てくる is often the harder of the two to translate naturally into English. “It has gotten cold” is more idiomatic than “it has come to be cold,” yet the Japanese 寒くなってきた carries that directional nuance — the cold has been approaching, and has now arrived at this moment. Whenever possible, English translations should try to preserve this sense of a process that has been unfolding and is now felt in the present.
【Conjugation】
Verb (て-form) ＋ くる
| Verb | て-form | ＋ くる | Meaning |
| 増える (to increase) | 増えて | 増えてくる | to gradually increase (toward now) |
| 変わる (to change) | 変わって | 変わってくる | to gradually change (toward now) |
| 見える (to be visible) | 見えて | 見えてくる | to come into view |
| 疲れる (to tire) | 疲れて | 疲れてくる | to start to feel tired |
| 持つ (to hold/carry) | 持って | 持ってくる | to bring (carry and come) |
| 走る (to run) | 走って | 走ってくる | to come running |
Note: くる conjugates as an irregular verb in all tenses: ▸ てくる → てきた (past: has come to / started to) ▸ てくる → てきます (polite present) ▸ てくる → てくると思う (conjecture about the future) The past form てきた is particularly important — it is arguably the most common form in everyday speech, used to describe changes that have already unfolded up to the present moment.
【The Two Faces of てくる — A Deeper Look】
Face 1 — Gradual Change (変化) The most conceptually rich use of てくる. The speaker describes a process that has been developing over time and has now arrived at, or become noticeable in, the present moment. The change always moves toward now.
「最近、日本語が少しわかってきた。」 “Lately, I’ve gradually started to understand Japanese.” → Understanding did not arrive all at once — it has been accumulating and has now reached a noticeable level. The てくる frames the journey, not just the destination.
「空が暗くなってきましたね。」 “The sky has been getting darker, hasn’t it.” → The darkening has been in progress and has now reached the speaker’s present awareness. This is てくる at its most spatial — the darkness has been approaching and has arrived.
Face 2 — Movement Toward the Speaker (移動) The physical use: an action is performed while moving in the direction of the speaker or the speaker’s location. This is closer to the literal meaning of くる, applied to a compound verb.
「駅まで走ってきました。」 “I ran here (all the way to the station).” → The speaker ran, and the direction of that running was toward their current location. The effort of the journey is embedded in the grammar.
「友達がケーキを持ってきてくれた。」 “My friend brought (carried and came with) a cake.” → Carrying happened, and the direction was toward the speaker. Compare with 持っていく (carry and go away from the speaker) — the particle alone reverses the entire spatial dynamic.
【Similar Grammars & Key Differences】
〜てくる vs. 〜ていく vs. 〜てしまう vs. 〜はじめる
① 〜てくる — Change or movement toward the speaker’s position in time or space. The process arrives at the present. 例：寒くなってきた。— It has gotten cold (the cold has arrived at now).
② 〜ていく — Change or movement away from the speaker’s position in time or space. The process departs from the present toward the future or a distant point. 例：これからもっと寒くなっていくだろう。— It will probably keep getting colder from here.
③ 〜てしまう — An action is completed, often with a nuance of regret, irreversibility, or unexpectedness. No directional meaning. 例：財布を忘れてしまった。— I went and forgot my wallet.
④ 〜はじめる — The start of an action, stated plainly and without directional nuance. More objective and neutral than てくる. 例：雨が降りはじめた。— It started to rain.
A vital contrast between てくる and ていく: these two are mirror images, and mastering them together is more effective than studying either alone. てくる brings toward now; ていく carries away from now. 「日本語がわかってきた」means understanding has grown up to this moment. 「日本語がわかっていくと思う」means understanding will grow from this moment forward. The speaker stands at the center, and the grammar moves in opposite directions around them.
【Example Sentences】
① 毎日練習していたら、ギターが少しずつ弾けるようになってきた。 (まいにちれんしゅうしていたら、ギターがすこしずつひけるようになってきた。) → After practicing every day, I gradually started to be able to play the guitar. ▸ Gradual change — skill accumulating over time and arriving at the present moment
② 春になって、公園の桜がだんだん咲いてきましたね。 (はるになって、こうえんのさくらがだんだんさいてきましたね。) → Spring has come, and the cherry blossoms in the park have gradually begun to bloom. ▸ Natural change unfolding in the present — the blooming has been approaching and is now visible
③ 山の頂上が見えてきたとき、足がもう動かなかった。 (やまのちょうじょうがみえてきたとき、あしがもううごかなかった。) → By the time the mountain summit came into view, my legs could no longer move. ▸ てくる used for something gradually entering the field of perception — the summit approaching into sight
④ 「日本語を勉強してから、外国語を話すのがどれだけ大変かわかってきた」と友人が言っていた。「それで、日本語は上手くなってきた？」と聞いたら、「それはまた別の話だ」と言われた。 (「にほんごをべんきょうしてから、がいこくごをはなすのがどれだけたいへんかわかってきた」とゆうじんがいっていた。「それで、にほんごはうまくなってきた？」ときいたら、「それはまたべつのはなしだ」といわれた。) → My friend said, “Since studying Japanese, I’ve gradually come to understand how hard it is to speak a foreign language.” When I asked, “So has your Japanese been getting better?”, he replied, “That’s a separate matter entirely.” ▸ てくる expressing dawning awareness — and the quietly devastating gap between understanding difficulty and overcoming it
【Question】
Read the following pairs and choose which sentence in each pair is correct, then explain why.
Ａ：「これから、もっと日本語がわかってきると思う。」 Ｂ：「これから、もっと日本語がわかっていくと思う。」
① A is correct. B is unnatural because ていく cannot refer to the future. ② B is correct. A is unnatural because てくる refers to change moving toward the present, while これから points away from the present toward the future. ていく correctly expresses change moving forward from now. ③ Both A and B are equally natural and interchangeable. ④ Neither A nor B is natural. The correct form is わかってしまうと思う.
Answer: ② This question tests the directional logic at the heart of てくる and ていく. これから means “from now on” — it explicitly points away from the present moment toward the future. てくる, by contrast, describes change that moves toward the speaker’s present position. Using てくる with これから creates a directional contradiction: the time expression points forward while the grammar points backward. ていく resolves this perfectly — it describes change that departs from the present and continues into the future, aligning naturally with これから. A helpful way to feel this: the speaker stands at the center of a timeline. てくる describes what has been moving toward them from the past. ていく describes what will move away from them into the future. これから belongs firmly on the ていく side of that line.*