Directional verbs "lai" and "qu"

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 来 上海 一 年 了 。 We know that this person is currently in Shanghai.Wǒ lái Shànghǎi yī nián le. I have lived in Shanghai one year.
• 我 去 北京 呆 了 一 年 。 This person is not in Beijing anymore.Wǒ qù Běijīng dāi le yī nián. I went to stay in Beijing for one year.
• 我 要 去 公司 。 The speaker is probably at home.Wǒ yào qù gōngsī. I will go to the office.
• 我 来 公司 了 。 The speaker is already in the office.Wǒ lái gōngsī le. 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.Xiǎo Wáng lái wǒmen gōngsī yī gè yuè le. Xiao Wang has 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.Wǒ jīngcháng lái zhèlǐ hē kāfēi. I often go to that place to drink coffee.
• 你 来南京 路 吧 。 The speaker is at Nanjing Road.Nǐ lái Nánjīng Lù ba. Come to Nanjing Road.
• 我 明天 去 美国 。 The speaker is currently not in America.Wǒ míngtiān qù Měiguó. Tomorrow I will go to America.
• 你 来 我 家 。 The speaker is in his own home.Nǐ lái wǒ jiā. You can come to my house.
• 我 昨天 去 他 家 了 。 Wǒ zuótiān qù tā jiā le. I went to his house yesterday.

Advanced Usage

Rules

来 (lái) and 去 (qù) can both be paired with other verbs to demonstrate the direction an action has taken. For example, 进来 (jìn lái), 进去(jìnqù), 出来(chūlái), 出去(chūqù), 回来(huílái), 回去(huíqù), etc. However, one rule to take into account is that once they are paired with other verbs, the directional verb formed cannot be followed by the object. A common mistake made by Chinese beginners is to say, “我回来中国” (wǒ huí lái Zhōng Guó) This is actually wrong. We can say, “我回中国” (wǒ huí Zhōng Guó) or “我回中国来” (wǒ huí Zhōng Guó lái). This will be explained in full detail in Direction complement.

Examples

• 明天 我 回去 美国。 You can not place an object after “回去”. Míngtiān wǒ huíqù Měiguó.Tomorrow I will return to America.
• 明天 我 回 美国。 The easiest method is to only use “回”Míngtiān wǒ huí Měiguó.Tomorrow I will return to America.
• 明天 我 回 美国 去。 You can also place “去” at the end of the sentence.Míngtiān wǒ huí Měiguó qù.Tomorrow I will return to America.
• 他 进来 房间。 You can't place an object after “出去”.Tā jìnlái fángjiān.He enters the apartment.
• 他 进 房间。Tā jìn fángjiān. He enters the apartment.
• 他 进 房间 来。Tā jìn fángjiān lái. He enters the apartment.

See also

• Direction complement