~て くる

[Rei Yahya]

I have a quick question! I've learned that -te kuru has a certain time connotation to it, in this way:

僕は映画館へ出かけてきた。
I went out to the theater (and came back).

Is this correct? And if so, what sort of times are we talking - going and coming immediately, or to a shift at work of potentially many hours, all day, until the next day? よろしくお願いします。

[Glenn]

I don't think it has anything to do with time, although if you went to the movie theater there's a usual assumed time that you would have been there. ～てくる just means going and coming back, though. I'd be surprised if there were any sort of relationship to time in there.

[Rei Yahya]

That's actually sort of what I meant - apologies for my confusing words, I was typing in a rush. 'Going and coming back'. By time, I meant to ask, just how far can that '...and coming back' stretch? Can it be used for leaving for a few hours - or days? I hope I'm making sense.

[Mike Cash]

It is indefinite.

[Rei Yahya]

So, I could even say:

日本へ行ってきました。
He went to Japan (and came back).

Even if he was in Japan for potentially years?

[Mike Cash]

So after how long a period would you expect that you could no longer say of someone who came back, "He came back"????

[Rei Yahya]

I don't know, I've known people who have left somewhere declaring that it would be indefinitely only to come back later rather unexpectedly. Thank you. It's far more clear.

[Mike Cash]

The verb is still "come" either way...

[Rei Yahya]

Yes. I'm just eager to understand the uses of ~te kuru. Could you kindly shed some light on what it means in a sentence where the conjugation is ~te kite? Such as this sentence I found:

"日本語をずっと前から勉強してきて、結局はやめた。
Studied Japanese from way back before and eventually quit."

What is the 'kite' doing in this sentence? Thank you.

[Glenn]

Have you learned the て form as a linking form? That's what it is here.

[Toritoribe]

Yes. I'm just eager to understand the uses of ~te kuru. Could you kindly shed some light on what it means in a sentence where the conjugation is ~te kite? Such as this sentence I found:

"日本語をずっと前から勉強してきて、結局はやめ� ｽ。
Studied Japanese from way back before and eventually quit."

What is the 'kite' doing in this sentence? Thank you.

〜てくる doesn't have the meaning "to come" in that sentence. It expresses a continuous action/movement in the time line.

て・＋行く・＋来る [Grammar

[Glenn]

Man, I totally misunderstood the question.

[Elizabeth]

So, I could even say:

日本へ行ってきました。
He went to Japan (and came back).

Even if he was in Japan for potentially years?

If I makes you more comfortable, for someone coming home after a trip or the like you might want to use 戻って/帰ってきました。

[Rei Yahya]

If I makes you more comfortable, for someone coming home after a trip or the like you might want to use 戻って/帰ってきました。

I've studied that　戻る means 'to return [to a temporary home]'. So it has a nuance that they've come back somewhere that's temporary. Does it affect much?

Thank you all for your wonderful responses. So, let me try my hand at a sentence, excuse me in advance for botching it up...
僕はコーラがたくさん飲んできて、今より健康なものを飲むこと好きなんです。
What I tried to get across: "I used to drink lots of soda, but now I like to drink healthier things.

How was the sentence? Did I use ~te kite correctly? Yoroshiku.

[Glenn]

First, it should be コーラを飲んできて in the first clause (you have it right in the second one), and I think 今から is better than 今より, since it's more colloquial/less stiff. I think 健康にいいもの is what you want for "healthy" (really, proper English would use "healthful" here, but that's pretty much a dead word nowadays), as 健康な is a description of the health of a person or thing, like 健康な肉体. Aside from that, I think a 前は or something like that would make it more natural. Here's what I suggest, but keep in mind I'm not a native speaker:

前はコーラをずっと飲んできたんだけど、これからは健康に良い物を飲むことにしています。

OK, that's pretty different, come to think of it. Now that I did my own, I feel like ずっと is better than たくさん because it focuses more on the amount of time than the quantity (because "for a while" seems to indicate more than "a lot" I guess), I used ことにしています because it seems more like something you'd decide on and make a concerted effort to continue, and since the two clauses seem to be in contrast to one another, I went with contrastive はs and a けど rather than ～て. If you were going to use ～て, maybe something like this would be better:

コーラをたくさん飲んできて、もう小便したくてしょうがない。

Now we'll wait and see how far off I was.

[Rei Yahya]

It's funny realizing just how little I know upon reading your helpful sentences. 僕はまだまだですね。　

[Glenn]

Well, you have to start somewhere. Plus, the verdict's still out on them. I'm waiting for native input before I start patting myself on the back.

[Toritoribe]

Your usage of より seems correct. Judging from the original English word "healthier", what you wanted to say would be 今は、より健康的なもの.

[Glenn]

Ooohhh, it was that より? I thought it was 今より, not より健康的な...

[Elizabeth]

I've studied that　戻る means 'to return [to a temporary home]'. So it has a nuance that they've come back somewhere that's temporary. Does it affect much?

戻る isn't necessarily a temporary base but does imply a "U-turn" stay in contrast to 帰る so can be used for circumstances in which the person has been allowed to return home or come back for a specific reason with plans to leave again soon.

---------- Post added at 09:42 ---------- Previous post was at 09:37 ----------

Thank you all for your wonderful responses. So, let me try my hand at a sentence, excuse me in advance for botching it up...
僕はコーラがたくさん飲んできて、今より健康なものを飲むこと好きなんです。
What I tried to get across: "I used to drink lots of soda, but now I like to drink healthier things.

How was the sentence? Did I use ~te kite correctly? Yoroshiku.

飲むこと好き is a bit odd (that likely doesn't make sense at all). If you have quit coke (??) and are in the process of forming a new habit I would base it around something like "ko-ra wo yamete, kenkouna mono wo nomu you ni narimashita/nattekimashita."

[Glenn]

So... should I take the lack of corrections as meaning my sentences were perfectly fine and natural?

[Elizabeth]

I'm not sure how これからは (from now on) works with ことにしています (have made a strong commitment to do something as a routine activity and am doing it) but have seen them together so assume it is OK. You might want to add a clarification of will "also drink" or "only drink" healthy stuff to make the past/present distinction a bit clearer.

[Glenn]

Yeah, I feel kind of weird about ことにしていますwith これから, because the latter seems to indicate a singular point in time while the former is an ongoing action. Probably ことにします would be better.

[Elizabeth]

Yeah, I feel kind of weird about ことにしていますwith これから, because the latter seems to indicate a singular point in time while the former is an ongoing action. Probably ことにします would be better.

ことにしています can likely be used to discuss future actions but it seems quite emphatic and resolute. "I am determined never to speak with that person again" or "I have decided never to be late to another meeting" or such. At least that would be the nuance picked up from my limited experience.