Come Do, Etc.
“What counts is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight – it’s the size of the fight in the dog.” - Dwight Eisenhower
Now’s the time to talk a little bit about how this grammar point works. The verb on the end (the いきます), of course, is a verb that uses the に particle. Movement, right? The いきます can be replaced by other verbs (come do something!), but only verbs that are motion verbs. A motion verb is a verb that takes you from one place to another. This is different from verbs that talk about movement (or how you’re moving). For example, the verb あるきます (to walk) talks about how you’re moving, rather than getting you from one place to another. Other verbs are like this too, including はしります (to run), およぎます (to swim) also don’t work for this grammar point.
The two most common verbs you’ll see in this “v.stemに_____” are going to be いきます and きます. There are others that aren’t as common, and I’m going to list them out here.
- いきます (to go)
- きます (to come)
- かえります (to return home)
- はいります (to enter)
- でます (to exit/leave)
That being said, いきます and きます are the two you actually need to worry about right now, and we’re going to focus on those here as well.
すし を たべ に いきました
I went to eat sushi
すし を たべ に きました
I/he came to eat sushi
All we did there was switch out the いきます with a きます, and it totally changed the meaning of the sentence. Instead of going somewhere, you’re coming. Similar but totally different. As long as you understood all the いきます stuff, the きます stuff shouldn’t be much of a stretch. You can either come or go.
テニス を し に いきました
I went to do tennis
テニス を し に きました
I came to do (play) tennis
にほんご を ならい に きました
I came to learn Japanese
にほんご を ならい に いきました
I went to learn Japanese
Now it’s your turn to continue practicing this so that you can use both いきます and きます with this grammar point. Like I said before, it’s a more of what you already have learned (just a moment ago, but still). I’ve made a worksheet that covers いきます, きます, and helps you to come up with some of your own sentences. We’ll get a lot deeper into you making your own stuff up using the grammar you’ve learned in the next few chapters (where you’ll learn how to get your stuff corrected pretty quickly and for free), but for now you’ll just have to try your best on these (don’t worry, not too difficult).
Go Do / Come Do Practice Sheet (PDF)