I’m wondering what people feel about adding the meaning “to give” to the vocab 上げる. In みんなの日本語 you see it used this way all the time, and I’m not entirely sure why it isn’t listed as one of the meanings in WK. Something like: 父に誕生日のプレセントを上げました。
Thoughts?
I don’t know what book do you have but my みんなの日本語 uses あげます without that kanji.
[retracted because this post made no goddamn sense]
Hey wolfan, the ‘to give’ used in Minna no Nihongo is written only kana, because it is an abstract way of raising something. How far have you gotten into the book? In chapter 24 they give you the very basics of keigo. But with ‘ageru’ in its ‘to give’ meaning you are basically saying, ‘I am giving this to you from my lower status than you.’ You could write it in kanji, but because it is not the literal meaning, in most cases preference goes to kana only.
You’re right, but since Jisho returns only 上げる when I search for 「あげる」I assumed it was the same word. Is it the same reading but spelled differently?
Edited to fix my incorrect conjugation (thanks for the gentle reminder).
I haven’t gotten to that yet, so thank you for the really clear explanation. Is there a reason to not think of the vocab in WK as both “to raise” and “to give”? Seems to me that they’re the same word, but one is usually written in kana along to distinguish them. Am I understanding you correctly?
If you write あげる to mean give and use kanji, then yes, 上 is the correct kanji. As noted above, usually it’s written in kana.
The meaning of give is a metaphorical one… since this is a polite expression for give, you are raising the object up to the receiver.
It’s meaning 12 on kotobank’s definition for あげる
⑫ 「与える」「やる」の丁寧な言い方。 《上》 「この本、あなたに－・げます」 「ほうびを－・げる」 「子供におやつを－・げる」 「鳥にえさを－・げる」
A couple reasons why they might not have included to give as an alternative is primarily because they want you to focus on not to many different meanings at the same time. Maybe also to help you pay special attention to the transitive/intransitive difference between ageru/agaru, since these are some of the first you learn (through WK).
A third reason I can think of is it’s a dangerous meaning to learn out of context. There are different words for giving and receiving in Japanese. All to do with the direction the action is going in, and the relative status of the parties involved. (This is why I wondered whether you got to chapter 24 yet, which dips into this concept).
A third reason I can think of is it’s a dangerous meaning to learn out of context. There are different words for giving and receiving in Japanese.
Well it’s interesting because that’s why it was sort of fresh in my mind, because (outside of Kanji) I’m currently juggling あげる、もらう、かりる、and かす. So I was thinking adding the alias would help reinforce that.
Thank you for your help!
you can compare these two to borrow and lend in English. Does that help?
Oh, it’s more a memory thing. I’m just an old guy who can’t always remember things 
For the life of me, かりる is the one I forget the most.
That helps a lot.
Right there with you, bud. Some days I’m like a machine, and some days I’m surprised I could get out of the house without tripping over my shoelaces.
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