About くれ in 契約を守ってくれなくては困る


In the sentence below, is くれ imperative form of くれる?

契約を守ってくれなくては困る




No. It's the negative-form. Imperative-forms usually end the sentence. To
understand this I'll break the sentence down:

> ...守って/くれ/なく/て/は/困る

Let's remove the parts `なくては困る` to understand what it is.

> 守ってくれる

From here we'll add words back to the original. Let's add `ない`. We have to use
the negative-form, which happens to be the same as its imperative-form^.

> 守ってくれ ない

`ては` is actually 2 words. Conjunctive particle `て` + binding particle `は`. It
indicates an assumption that leads to something bad.
[Dictionary](https://kotobank.jp/word/%E3%81%A6%E3%81%AF-576591). To add the
word we have to use the continuous form of ない, which is なく. Now we should be
safe to return to the original sentence.

> 契約を守ってくれなくては困る

^ `くれる` is categorized in 下一段活用, but it's odd one out for its imperative-form.
[Wiktionary
article](https://ja.wiktionary.org/wiki/Wiktionary:%E6%97%A5%E6%9C%AC%E8%AA%9E%E3%81%AE%E6%B4%BB%E7%94%A8),
search inside the page for `くれる`.




No. It's the negative-form. Imperative-forms usually end the sentence. To
understand this I'll break the sentence down:

> ...守って/くれ/なく/て/は/困る

Let's remove the parts `なくては困る` to understand what it is.

> 守ってくれる

From here we'll add words back to the original. Let's add `ない`. We have to use
the negative-form, which happens to be the same as its imperative-form^.

> 守ってくれ ない

`ては` is actually 2 words. Conjunctive particle `て` + binding particle `は`. It
indicates an assumption that leads to something bad.
[Dictionary](https://kotobank.jp/word/%E3%81%A6%E3%81%AF-576591). To add the
word we have to use the continuous form of ない, which is なく. Now we should be
safe to return to the original sentence.

> 契約を守ってくれなくては困る

^ `くれる` is categorized in 下一段活用, but it's odd one out for its imperative-form.
[Wiktionary
article](https://ja.wiktionary.org/wiki/Wiktionary:%E6%97%A5%E6%9C%AC%E8%AA%9E%E3%81%AE%E6%B4%BB%E7%94%A8),
search inside the page for `くれる`.

