Difference between revisions of "Directional verbs "lai" and "qu""
| Line 17: | Line 17: | ||
<div class="liju"> | <div class="liju"> | ||
| − | |||
| − | |||
* 我 要 <em>去</em> 超市。 <span class="expl">The speaker is probably at home.</span><span class="pinyin">Wǒ yào <em>qù</em> chāoshì.</span> <span class="trans">I will go to the supermarket.</span> | * 我 要 <em>去</em> 超市。 <span class="expl">The speaker is probably at home.</span><span class="pinyin">Wǒ yào <em>qù</em> chāoshì.</span> <span class="trans">I will go to the supermarket.</span> | ||
* 老板 <em>来</em> 公司 了。 <span class="expl">The speaker is already in the office.</span><span class="pinyin">Lǎobǎn <em>lái</em> gōngsī le.</span> <span class="trans">The boss is at the office.</span> | * 老板 <em>来</em> 公司 了。 <span class="expl">The speaker is already in the office.</span><span class="pinyin">Lǎobǎn <em>lái</em> gōngsī le.</span> <span class="trans">The boss is at the office.</span> | ||
| − | |||
| − | |||
* 你 <em>来</em>南京 路 吧 。 <span class="expl">The speaker is at Nanjing Road.</span><span class="pinyin">Nǐ <em>lái</em> Nánjīng Lù ba.</span> <span class="trans">Come to Nanjing Road.</span> | * 你 <em>来</em>南京 路 吧 。 <span class="expl">The speaker is at Nanjing Road.</span><span class="pinyin">Nǐ <em>lái</em> Nánjīng Lù ba.</span> <span class="trans">Come to Nanjing Road.</span> | ||
| − | * 我 | + | * 他们 <em>来</em> 我们 公司 一 个 月 了 。 <span class="expl">We know that they and the speaker are both in the same office.</span><span class="pinyin">Tāmen <em>lái</em> wǒmen gōngsī yī gè yuè le.</span> <span class="trans">They've worked in our office for a month.</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> |
| − | * | + | * 他 <em>来</em> 上海 工作 一 年 了 。 <span class="expl">We know that this person is currently in Shanghai.</span><span class="pinyin">Tā <em>lái</em> Shànghǎi gōngzuò yī nián le.</span> <span class="trans">He's been working in Shanghai for one year.</span> |
| + | * 我 上大学 的 时候 <em>去</em> 美国 待 了 半年。 <span class="expl">This person is not in America anymore.</span><span class="pinyin">Wǒ shàng daxué de shíhou <em>qù</em>Měiguó dāi le bàn nián.</span> <span class="trans">I went to stay in America for half an year when I was in college.</span> | ||
| + | * 我 和 朋友 经常 <em>去</em> 星巴克 喝 咖啡 。 <span class="expl">The speaker isn't in this moment at Starbucks.</span><span class="pinyin">Wǒ hé péngyou jīngcháng <em>qù</em> Xīngbākè hē kāfēi.</span> <span class="trans">I often go to Starbucks to drink coffee with friends.</span> | ||
| + | * 爸爸 明天 <em>去</em> 北京 出差。 <span class="expl"> Dad is currently not in Beijing.</span><span class="pinyin">Bàba míngtiān <em>qù</em> Běijīng chūchāi.</span> <span class="trans"> Tomorrow dad will go to Beijing on a business trip.</span> | ||
| + | * 我今天 不上班，你们 <em>来</em> 我 家 吃饭 吧。 <span class="expl">The speaker is probably in her own home.</span><span class="pinyin"> Wǒ jīntiān bù shàngbān, nǐmen <em>lái</em> wǒ jiā chīfàn ba.</span> <span class="trans">I don't have to go to work today.You can come to my house to eat dinner.</span> | ||
</div> | </div> | ||
Revision as of 06:19, 13 October 2015
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
- 我 要 去 超市。 The speaker is probably at home. I will go to the supermarket.
- 老板 来 公司 了。 The speaker is already in the office. The boss is at the office.
- 你 来南京 路 吧 。 The speaker is at Nanjing Road. Come to Nanjing Road.
- 他们 来 我们 公司 一 个 月 了 。 We know that they and the speaker are both in the same office. They've worked in our office for a month.
- 昨天 我们 去 了 酒吧。 We wen to the bar yesterday.
- 他 来 上海 工作 一 年 了 。 We know that this person is currently in Shanghai. He's been working in Shanghai for one year.
- 我 上大学 的 时候 去 美国 待 了 半年。 This person is not in America anymore. I went to stay in America for half an year when I was in college.
- 我 和 朋友 经常 去 星巴克 喝 咖啡 。 The speaker isn't in this moment at Starbucks. I often go to Starbucks to drink coffee with friends.
- 爸爸 明天 去 北京 出差。 Dad is currently not in Beijing. Tomorrow dad will go to Beijing on a business trip.
- 我今天 不上班，你们 来 我 家 吃饭 吧。 The speaker is probably in her own home. I don't have to go to work today.You can come to my house to eat dinner.
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.
