The verbs 来 lái to come and 去 qù to go are used to describe motion coming towards or moving way from a speaker. More explanations and examples will be given in the “directional complement” section, but we would like to demonstrate here how 来 lái and 去 qù are followed by the noun or the main verbal clause of a sentence. For example:
他 来 我 家 喝 茶
He is coming to my house for tea. (lit. he is coming to my home to drink tea)
The motion in the above sentence moves towards the speaker. 来 lái to come is followed by wǒ jiā my home .
他 来 喝 茶
He is coming for tea. (lit. he is coming to drink tea)
The motion in the above sentence moves towards the speaker. 来 lái to come is followed by the verbal clause hē chá drink tea.
我 去 书 店 买 书
I’m going to the bookshop to buy books.
The motion in the above sentence moves away from the speaker. 去 qù to go is followed by the noun shū diàn bookshop .
我 去 买 书
I’m going out to buy books. (lit. I’m going to buy books)
The motion in the above sentence moves away from the speaker. 去 qù to go is followed by the verbal clause 买书 mǎi shū buy books .
Apart from indicating motion direction, 来 lái has the following functions.
1. It can mean that let sb. do sth …
我 来 给 你 作 我 来 教 你 汉 语
wǒ lái gěi nǐ zuò wǒ lái jiāo nǐ hàn yǔ
Let me do it for you. Let me teach you Chinese.
2. 来 lái is used for ordering food and drinks in restaurants. The expression implies the ‘Bring me’ …that you might say to a waiter:
来 一瓶 啤酒 来 一 杯 咖啡
lái yì ping pí jiǔ lái yì bēi kāfēi
I’d like a bottle of beer. I’d like a cup of coffee.