Difference between revisions of "Directional verbs "lai" and "qu""

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* 妈妈 要 <em>去</em> 超市。 <span class="expl">Mom is probably at home.</span><span class="pinyin">Māma yào <em>qù</em> chāoshì.</span> <span class="trans">Mom will go to the supermarket.</span>
 
* 妈妈 要 <em>去</em> 超市。 <span class="expl">Mom is probably at home.</span><span class="pinyin">Māma yào <em>qù</em> chāoshì.</span> <span class="trans">Mom will go to the supermarket.</span>
 
* 老板 今天 <em>来</em> 公司 吗?<span class="expl">The boss is not in the office.</span><span class="pinyin">Lǎobǎn jīntiān <em>lái</em> gōngsī ma? </span> <span class="trans">Is the boss coming to the office? </span>
 
* 老板 今天 <em>来</em> 公司 吗?<span class="expl">The boss is not in the office.</span><span class="pinyin">Lǎobǎn jīntiān <em>lái</em> gōngsī ma? </span> <span class="trans">Is the boss coming to the office? </span>
* 你 现在 <em>来</em>南京 路。 <span class="expl">The speaker is at Nanjing Road.</span><span class="pinyin">Nǐ xiànzài <em>lái</em> Nánjīng Lù ba.</span> <span class="trans">Come to Nanjing Road now.</span>
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* 你 现在 <em>来</em>南京 路 吧。 <span class="expl">The speaker is at Nanjing Road.</span><span class="pinyin">Nǐ xiànzài <em>lái</em> Nánjīng Lù ba.</span> <span class="trans">Come to Nanjing Road now.</span>
 
* 你 不 想 <em>来</em> 我们 公司 工作 吗?<span class="pinyin">Nǐ bù xiǎng <em>lái</em> wǒmen gōngsī gōngzuò ma? </span> <span class="trans">Do yo not want to come to work for our company? </span>
 
* 你 不 想 <em>来</em> 我们 公司 工作 吗?<span class="pinyin">Nǐ bù xiǎng <em>lái</em> wǒmen gōngsī gōngzuò ma? </span> <span class="trans">Do yo not want to come to work for our company? </span>
 
* 昨天 我们 <em>去</em> 了 酒吧。 <span class="pinyin">Zuótiān wǒme <em>qù</em> le jiǔbā. </span> <span class="trans">We wen to the bar yesterday. </span>
 
* 昨天 我们 <em>去</em> 了 酒吧。 <span class="pinyin">Zuótiān wǒme <em>qù</em> le jiǔbā. </span> <span class="trans">We wen to the bar yesterday. </span>

Revision as of 02:10, 23 November 2015

Chinese-grammar-wiki-qu.jpg

来 (lái) and 去 (qù) are both words that help to express direction with regards to the speaker. 来 (lái) expresses the location direction of the speaker while 去 (qù) expresses location direction 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). Because of this, it is very important to know when to use 来 (lái) and when to use 去 (qù) correctly.

Basic usage

Structure

来/去 + location

Examples

  • 妈妈 要 超市。 Mom is probably at home.Māma yào chāoshì. Mom will go to the supermarket.
  • 老板 今天 公司 吗?The boss is not in the office.Lǎobǎn jīntiān lái gōngsī ma? Is the boss coming to the office?
  • 你 现在 南京 路 吧。 The speaker is at Nanjing Road.Nǐ xiànzài lái Nánjīng Lù ba. Come to Nanjing Road now.
  • 你 不 想 我们 公司 工作 吗?Nǐ bù xiǎng lái wǒmen gōngsī gōngzuò ma? Do yo not want to come to work for our company?
  • 昨天 我们 了 酒吧。 Zuótiān wǒme le jiǔbā. We wen to the bar yesterday.
  • 你们 想 Starbucks 还是 Costa?We know that the speaker is not in Starbucks or Costa. Nǐmen xiǎng Starbucks háishì Costa? Would you like to go to Starbucks or Costa?
  • 周末 我 常常 和 朋友 看 电影。 The speaker isn't in the cinema at this moment.zhōumò wǒ chángcháng hé péngyou kàn diànyǐng. I often go to see the movie on weekends with friends.
  • 爸爸 明天 北京 出差。 Dad is currently not in Beijing. Bàba míngtiān Běijīng chūchāi. Tomorrow dad will go to Beijing on a business trip.
  • 我今天 不上班,你们 可以 我 家 吃饭。 The speaker is probably at home. Wǒ jīntiān bù shàngbān, nǐmen kěyǐ lái wǒ jiā chīfàn. I don't have to go to work today.You can come to my house to eat dinner.
  • 她 上大学 的 时候 美国 待 了 半年。 She is not in America anymore.Tā shàng daxué de shíhou Měiguó dāi le bàn nián. She went to stay in America for half an year when she was in college.

Advanced Usage

来 (lái) and 去 (qù) can both be paired with other 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. These are called direction complements, and will be covered in detail in a more advanced article.

See also