Introduction
Chinese has two direction sets: 上 (shàng)、下 (xià)、进 (jìn)、出 (chū)、过 (guò)、回 (huí) for the shape of the movement, and 来 (lái)、去 (qù) for whether it comes toward the speaker or goes away. Stack them and you get the full picture in one word: 跑出去 (pǎo chūqu) — run out, away from me.
Overview
Structure: Verb + [进 / 出 / 上 / 下 / 回 / 过] + [来 / 去]
| Pattern | Example | Translation |
|---|---|---|
| V + 进来 | 请进来。(Qǐng jìnlai.) | Come in. |
| V + 出去 | 他跑出去了。(Tā pǎo chūqu le.) | He ran out. |
| V + 出来 | 你说出来吧。(Nǐ shuō chūlai ba.) | Out with it. |
| V + 回来 | 他走回来了。(Tā zǒu huílai le.) | He walked back. |
| V + 起来 | 他站起来了。(Tā zhàn qǐlai le.) | He stood up. |
| V + 下去 | 你说下去。(Nǐ shuō xiàqu.) | Go on talking. |
来 (lái) or 去 (qù) depends on where the speaker is standing:
- Inside the room, someone enters: 他走进来了。(Tā zǒu jìnlai le.) Outside it: 他走进去了。(Tā zǒu jìnqu le.)
- A place word splits the complement in two: 他跑进教室来了。(Tā pǎo jìn jiàoshì lai le.) ❌ 他跑进来教室了。(Tā pǎo jìnlai jiàoshì le.)
- The second half is neutral tone: chūlai, jìnqu, qǐlai.
- 起来 (qǐlai) and 下去 (xiàqu) are also used for starting and continuing, not only for movement: 说下去 (shuō xiàqu) — keep talking.
Examples
外面冷，快进来吧。
Wàimiàn lěng, kuài jìnlai ba.
It's cold out, come in.
他从教室里跑出来了。
Tā cóng jiàoshì li pǎo chūlai le.
He ran out of the classroom.
老师进来的时候，我们都站起来了。
Lǎoshī jìnlai de shíhou, wǒmen dōu zhàn qǐlai le.
When the teacher came in, we all stood up.
他拿出来一本书给我看。
Tā ná chūlai yì běn shū gěi wǒ kàn.
He took out a book to show me.
他跑进房间来找我。
Tā pǎo jìn fángjiān lai zhǎo wǒ.
He ran into the room to look for me.
别说了，我不想听下去了。
Bié shuō le, wǒ bù xiǎng tīng xiàqu le.
Stop, I don't want to hear any more.
Usage Notes
- Pick 来 (lái) when the movement ends where the speaker is, 去 (qù) when it ends somewhere else. The same event gets opposite words from the two people involved.
- A place always goes inside the complement: 走进教室来 (zǒu jìn jiàoshì lai)、跑回家去 (pǎo huí jiā qu).
- An ordinary object may go inside or after: 拿出来一本书 (ná chūlai yì běn shū) ／ 拿出一本书来 (ná chū yì běn shū lai).
- 起来 (qǐlai) has no 起去: the pair is 起来 (qǐlai) and 下去 (xiàqu).
- Beyond movement, 起来 (qǐlai) marks a start and 下去 (xiàqu) a continuation: 下起雨来了 (xià qǐ yǔ lai le) — it started raining.