Why does this sentence have 帰って来なさい?


In A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar in the ~nasai section it has this
example sentence: "早くうちに帰って来なさいよ。" with translation "Come home early, OK?".

I'm aware of the general difference between 帰る and 来る but why both? How would
the meaning of the sentence change if there was only one or the other? Why not
"帰なさい"? (which I assume is ungrammatical because I had to fight autocomplete
to type it)




帰ってくる is a compound verb made of 帰る and 来る. Sometimes the second verb of a
compound verb becomes a subsidiary verb and changes its meaning slightly, but
it does not in this case.

I think you were confused because these two verbs are both related to "move".
I would like to add one more 行く here.

Although 来る and 行く are usually translated to come and go, they are slightly
different.

  * 来る means "The subject moves toward the speaker's place."
  * 行く means "The subject moves away from the speaker's place."

On the other hand, in English, the listener's place matters.

Also,

  * 帰る means "The subject moves to the place it belongs to."

(Note: "it belongs to" is relative. For example: 出先から会社に帰る。 (from the field to
the office), 会社から家に帰る。 (from the office to home))

So,

  * 早く帰りなさい (Move to where you belong to.)
  * 早く来なさい (Move to where I am.)
  * 早く行きなさい (Move away from where I am.)
  * 早く帰って来なさい (Move to where you belong to and to where I am.)
  * 早く帰って行きなさい (Move to where you belong to and away from where I am.)

早くうちに帰って来なさいよ。and 早くうちに帰りなさいよ。 are almost the same as far as the speaker is at
listener's home. Otherwise, the former does not make sense.




帰ってくる is a compound verb made of 帰る and 来る. Sometimes the second verb of a
compound verb becomes a subsidiary verb and changes its meaning slightly, but
it does not in this case.

I think you were confused because these two verbs are both related to "move".
I would like to add one more 行く here.

Although 来る and 行く are usually translated to come and go, they are slightly
different.

  * 来る means "The subject moves toward the speaker's place."
  * 行く means "The subject moves away from the speaker's place."

On the other hand, in English, the listener's place matters.

Also,

  * 帰る means "The subject moves to the place it belongs to."

(Note: "it belongs to" is relative. For example: 出先から会社に帰る。 (from the field to
the office), 会社から家に帰る。 (from the office to home))

So,

  * 早く帰りなさい (Move to where you belong to.)
  * 早く来なさい (Move to where I am.)
  * 早く行きなさい (Move away from where I am.)
  * 早く帰って来なさい (Move to where you belong to and to where I am.)
  * 早く帰って行きなさい (Move to where you belong to and away from where I am.)

早くうちに帰って来なさいよ。and 早くうちに帰りなさいよ。 are almost the same as far as the speaker is at
listener's home. Otherwise, the former does not make sense.

