～ていく (1) (moving away)

• Reading: いく
• Romaji: iku
• Formation: Verb て-form + いく/いきます
• Kanji breakdown: 行 (こう/い.く) — go, carry out

Meaning

An auxiliary verb construction where いく follows the て form of a verb to indicate that an action or movement proceeds in a direction away from the speaker or a reference point. It describes going somewhere while doing something, or doing something and then going.

ていく in its directional sense combines a verb of action with the movement verb いく to show that the action happens as the subject moves away. This can mean performing an action while departing (walking away while waving), doing something before leaving (eating lunch and then going), or carrying something along as one goes (taking something with one). The key spatial concept is movement away from the speaker's current position or psychological viewpoint. This contrasts with てくる, which describes movement toward the speaker. ていく can also describe taking objects or people along. In polite speech, ていきます is used. Learners should distinguish this directional use from the temporal use of ていく (covered separately).

Examples

1. お弁当を持っていきます。 I will take a packed lunch with me.
2. 子供が走っていった。 The child ran off.
3. 鳥が飛んでいった。 The bird flew away.

Usage Guide

Context: spoken, written, everyday

Tone: descriptive

Do Say

• 傘を持っていったほうがいいよ。
• 猫が庭から走っていった。
• この書類を会議室に持っていってください。
• 友達がさよならと言って帰っていった。

Don't Say

• 彼が走ってきた。(Using てくる instead of ていく when the person is moving away from the speaker) → 彼が走っていった。
• お弁当を持って来ます。(Using てくる when taking something away from the current location — use ていく) → お弁当を持っていきます。

Origin & History

いく (行く) means 'to go.' Its auxiliary use after て form to express directional movement away from the speaker has been a core Japanese grammar pattern since the classical period.

Cultural Context

Generation: All ages

Social background: Universal