Meaning of ～てもらう in this sentence


I encountered this sentence in a textbook

> 野菜をたくさん買ったので、店の人に家まで届けてもらいました。

Which one of the following would the sentence is supposed to mean?

> Since [I] bought a lot of vegetables, [I] had a guy at the shop deliver the
> vegetables home for me.

or

> Since [I] bought a lot of vegetables, I received home delivery.

Does the verb もらう in the form ～てもらう always mean to have someone do something
for me instead of only to receive something?




The second reading is not valid. When a もらう is a full verb meaning "receive",
its object (and only full verbs can take an object) must be some form of noun
and followed by a を. The 家まで届けて is not any kind of noun phrase. It cannot
quite work like "home delivery" does.

So the first one, where the もらう is correctly interpreted as a subsidiary verb,
is the right one.

It is possible, however, for the もらう in the string ～てもらう to be a full verb
describing a distinct act of receiving something, as in relatively rare cases
where the object of a もらう that follows another verb is omitted. For example:

> お砂糖が切れていたので、お隣に行ってもらってきました。"I was out of sugar, so I went next door and got
> some.")




> 「Verb in て-form + もらう」

always means:

> "to have someone (verb) for me (or whoever that is being talked about)"

It is that someone who performs the action described by the verb and the other
person (I/you/he/they, etc.) is the one that receives the service/kindness.

Thus the sentence in question means what your first translation says.

If you see/hear the phrase:

> 「Noun + **を** + もらう」

it means " **someone receives something** ". If what you receive is a service
instead of a thing, you cannot use 「～～をもらう」.

For example, I just returned from my lunch at a steak restaurant. When I paid
at the cashier, the clerk game me a free coupon for all-you-can-drink
softdrinks that I could use next time. If I were to tell someone about this, I
might say:

> 「ドリンクバーのタダ券{けん} **を** もらった or もらっちゃった。」

(「ドリンクバー」 means "all-you-can-drink softdrinks" and 「タダ券」, a "free coupon".)

