Directional verbs "lai" and "qu"
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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. 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). In these cases it is very important to know when to use 来 (lái) and when to use 去 (qù) correctly.
Contents
Basic usage
Structure
来/去 + location
Examples
- 我 来 上海 一 年 了。We know that this person is currently in Shanghai.I have lived in Shanghai one year.
- 我 去 北京 呆 了 一 年。This person is not in Beijing anymore.I went to stay in Beijing for one year.
- 我 要 去 公司。The speaker is probably at home.I will go to the office.
- 我 来 公司 了。The speaker is already in the office.I arrived at the office.
- 小王 来 我们 公司 一 个 月 了。 We know that Xiao Wang and the speaker are both in the same office.Xiao Wang had worked in our office for a month.
- 我 经常 来 这里 喝 咖啡。The speaker is in this moment at that place drinking coffee.I often go to that place to drink coffee.
- 你 来南京 路 吧。The speaker is at Nanjing road.Come to Nanjing road.
- 我 明天 去 美国。 The speaker is currently not in America. Tomorrow I will go to America.
- 你 来 我 家。The speaker is in his own home.You can come to my house.
- 我 昨天 去 他 家 了。I went to his house yesterday.
Advanced Usage
Rules
“来”和“去”都可以跟别的动词搭配，表示动作的趋向。比如“进来”“进去”“出来”“出去”“回来”“回去”等等。但是有一个规则，就是在它们搭配其他动词之后形成的趋向动词都不能有宾语。 汉语初学者经常犯的一个错误就是会说“我回来中国。”其实是不对的，我们可以说“我回中国。”或者“我回中国来。” 关于这部分我们在Direction complement中详细解释。
Examples
- 明天 我 回去 美国。 You can not place an object after “回去”. Tomorrow I will return to America.
- 明天 我 回 美国。 The easiest method is to only use “回” Tomorrow I will return to America.
- 明天 我 回 美国 去。 You can also place “去” at the end of the sentence. Tomorrow I will go to America.
- 他 进来 房间。 You can't place an object after “出去”. He enters the apartment.
- 他 进 房间。 He enters the apartment.
- 他 进 房间 来。 He enters the apartment.
