Chinese Grammar: Directional verbs 来 and 去

来 (lái) and 去 (qù) are both words that help to express direction from the perspective of the speaker. 来 (lái) means “come” (towards the speaker), while 去 (qù) means “go” (away from the speaker). For example, if you are in China, a local person might ask you: “When did you come to China?” using 来 (lái). Another example is if you want to go from China to Japan, your friends might ask you: “When are you going to Japan?” using 去 (qù).

 

Basic Usage

Structure: 来 / 去 + Place

Examples:

For the examples below, keep in mind that if the speaker uses 去 (qù), then he/she is not at the place mentioned now. If the speaker uses 来 (lái), he/she must already be at the place mentioned. Just stay consistent with this, and you’re good.

妈妈要去超市。(māma yào qù chāoshì) = Mom will go to the supermarket.

老板今天来公司吗?(lǎobǎn jīntiān lái gōngsī ma) = Is the boss coming into the office today?

你现在来南京路吧。(nǐ xiànzài lái Nánjīng Lù ba) = Come to Nanjing Road now.

你不想来我们公司工作吗?(nǐ bù xiǎng lái wǒmen gōngsī gōngzuò ma) = Do you not want to come to work for our company?

去年她去美国工作了几个月。(qùnián tā qù Měiguó gōngzuò le jǐ gè yuè) = Last year she went to work in the USA for a few months.

你们想去Starbucks还是Costa?(nǐmen xiǎng qù Starbucks háishì Costa) = Would you like to go to Starbucks or Costa?

周末我喜欢去朋友家。(zhōumò wǒ xǐhuan qù péngyou jiā) = I like to go to my friends’ places on the weekends.

爸爸明天去北京出差。(bàba míngtiān qù Běijīng chūchāi) = Dad will go to Beijing on a business trip tomorrow.

我今天不上班,你们可以来我家吃饭。(wǒ jīntiān bù shàngbān, nǐmen kěyǐ lái wǒ jiā chīfàn) = I don’t have to go to work today. You can come to my home to eat dinner.

 

Advanced Usage

来 (lái) and 去 (qù) can both be paired with other simple verbs to demonstrate the direction an action has taken. For example, 进来 (jìnlái, “come in”), 进去 (jìnqù, “go in”), 出来 (chūlái, “come out”), 出去 (chūqù, “go out”), 回来 (huílái, “come back”), 回去 (huíqù, “go back”), etc.


Post time: Jul-16-2020