Verb + 来/去 (direction complement)

• Pinyin: lái / qù
• Formation: Verb + 来 / 去
• Hanzi breakdown: 来 = 木 (tree) with horizontal strokes representing grain; 去 = 土 (earth) + 厶 (private)

Meaning

Adding 来 (toward the speaker) or 去 (away from the speaker) after a verb indicates the direction of the action. 来 signals movement toward the speaker's location, while 去 signals movement away from it.

Direction complements are fundamental to Chinese and appear very frequently in everyday speech. Beyond simple 来/去, compound direction complements combine a directional verb (上, 下, 进, 出, 回, 过, 起) with 来 or 去 to express more specific movement: 上来 (come up), 下去 (go down), 进来 (come in), 出去 (go out), 回来 (come back), 过去 (go over). When there is an object, it can be placed between the verb and the directional complement or after the entire phrase, depending on context. For location objects, the location always goes before 来/去: 走进教室来.

Examples

1. 你把那本书拿来。 Bring that book over here.
2. 他跑出去买早餐了。 He ran out to buy breakfast.
3. 请把窗户打开，让新鲜空气进来。 Please open the window to let fresh air in.

Usage Guide

Context: spoken, written, everyday

Tone: descriptive

Do Say

• 快把衣服收进来，外面要下雨了。
• 他每天早上从家里跑出去锻炼。
• 请你帮我把这个箱子搬上来。

Don't Say

• 他来跑了。(来/去 as direction complements go after the verb, not before it — say 跑来了) → 他跑来了。
• 她走来进教室。(In compound direction complements, the order is Verb + directional verb + 来/去 — say 走进教室来 or 走进来) → 她走进教室来。

Origin & History

来 and 去 are among the oldest and most basic directional verbs in Chinese. Their use as complements after other verbs to indicate direction of movement is documented as early as the Han Dynasty, making direction complements one of the oldest grammatical features still actively used in modern Chinese.

Cultural Context

Generation: All ages

Social background: Universal