来 / 去

lái / qù

Direction complements

来 and 去 tack onto a verb to say whether the movement is towards the speaker or away.

Verb (+ Direction) + 来 / 去

How it works

我们走过去吧 — let's walk over (away from here). 走过来 would be walking over towards me.

The middle slot takes a direction: 上, 下, 进, 出, 回, 过, 起. So 进来 (come in), 出去 (go out), 回来 (come back).

With a place, it goes before 来/去: 他跑回家来了.

Examples

  • wǒ men zǒu guò qù ba

    我们走过去吧。

    Let's walk over there.

  • qǐng jìn lái

    请进来。

    Please come in.

  • tā huí lái le

    他回来了。

    He's back.