来 (lái) and 去 (qù) are both words that help to express direction from
the perspective of the speaker. 来 (lái) means "come" (towards the
speaker), while 去 (qù) means "go" (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).

Seems really easy, right? Well, learn them well now, because you'll get
a lot of mileage out of these words in future grammar patterns.

Basic Usage
-----------

### Structure

<div class="jiegou">
来 / 去 + Place

</div>
### Examples

For the examples below, keep in mind that if the speaker uses 去 (qù),
then she is not at the place mentioned *now*. If the speaker uses 来
(lái), she must already be at the place mentioned. Just stay consistent
with this, and you're good.

<div class="liju">
-   妈妈 要 <em>去</em> 超市。<span class="pinyin">Māma yào <em>qù</em>
    chāoshì.</span><span class="trans">Mom will go to the
    supermarket.</span>
-   老板 今天 <em>来</em> 公司 吗？<span class="pinyin">Lǎobǎn jīntiān
    <em>lái</em> gōngsī ma?</span><span class="trans">Is the boss coming
    into the office today?</span>
-   你 现在 <em>来</em>南京 路 吧。<span class="pinyin">Nǐ xiànzài
    <em>lái</em> Nánjīng Lù ba.</span><span class="trans">Come to
    Nanjing Road now.</span>
-   你 不 想 <em>来</em> 我们 公司 工作 吗？<span class="pinyin">Nǐ bù
    xiǎng <em>lái</em> wǒmen gōngsī gōngzuò
    ma?</span><span class="trans">Do you not want to come to work for
    our company? </span>
-   去年 她 <em>去</em> 美国 工作 了 几 个 月
    。<span class="pinyin">Qùnián tā <em>qù</em> Měiguó gōngzuò le jǐ gè
    yuè.</span><span class="trans">Last year she went to work in the USA
    for a few months.</span>
-   你们 想 <em>去</em> Starbucks 还是 Costa？<span class="pinyin">
    Nǐmen xiǎng <em>qù</em> Starbucks háishì Costa?
    </span><span class="trans">Would you like to go to Starbucks or
    Costa?</span>
-   周末 我 喜欢 <em>去</em> 朋友 家。<span class="pinyin">Zhōumò wǒ
    xǐhuan <em>qù</em> péngyou jiā.</span><span class="trans">I like to
    go to my friends' places on the weekends.</span>
-   爸爸 明天 <em>去</em> 北京 出差。<span class="pinyin">Bàba míngtiān
    <em>qù</em> Běijīng chūchāi.</span><span class="trans">Dad will go
    to Beijing on a business trip tomorrow.</span>
-   我 今天 不 上班，你们 可以 <em>来</em> 我 家 吃饭
    。<span class="pinyin">Wǒ jīntiān bù shàngbān, nǐmen kěyǐ
    <em>lái</em> wǒ jiā chīfàn.</span><span class="trans">I don't have
    to go to work today. You can come to my home to eat dinner.</span>

</div>
Advanced Usage
--------------

来 (lái) and 去 (qù) can both be paired with other simple verbs to
demonstrate the direction an action has taken. For example, 进来
(jìnlái, "come in"), 进去 (jìnqù, "go in"), 出来 (chūlái, "come out"),
出去 (chūqù, "go out"), 回来 (huílái, "come back"), 回去 (huíqù, "go
back"), etc.

When you start tacking these two-character verbs onto the ends of other
verbs, they are called [direction
complements](direction_complement "wikilink"), and are covered in detail
in a more advanced article.

See also
--------

-   [Direction complement](Direction_complement "wikilink")

[Category:A2 grammar points](Category:A2_grammar_points "wikilink")