Lesson 64
Te Form + kuru / iku
As you already know, kuru and iku mean "to come" and "to go," but when used after the Te Form they take on a whole new dimension which may have nothing to do with physical movement. Just as kuru and iku mean to come to or leave a given place, after the Te Form they can also mean to come up to or start from a given time. Notice how kuru comes up to a point and iku takes off or continues from one:
- Ron wa sukoshi zutsu nihongo ga wakatte kimashita. (Little by little Ron came to understand Japanese.)
- Doitsu no rekishi o benkyou shite kimashita. (I have been studying German history.)
- PC wa yasuku natte iku deshou. (PCs will most likely get less and less expensive.)
- Sono tame, PC no shiyousha ga fuete iku to omou. (Because of that, I think that the number of PC users will increase.)
As can be seen, the Te Form + kuru points to results or events leading up to the present or another point in time, while iku takes off from the present or another point in time, expresses future plans, dreams, assumptions, etc.
One very good example of this form being used to express a physical going and coming is itte kuru, the Te Form of "to go" followed by "to come." Usually upgraded with masu, Itte kimasu! is the traditional expression one uses when going out, and means exactly what it's supposed to: "I'm going out and coming back." (If you say just ikimasu, the literal equivalent of "I'm going," it's considered unlucky because it will be interpreted as "going away and not coming back," so avoid saying that unless you really mean it.) Accordingly, people will sometimes use this to ask others where they went: Doko e itte kita? (Where did you go [and come back from]?)
Other simple examples of this are:
- Tabete kita. (I ate before coming over.)
- Shirabete kuru. (I'll go check it [then come back].)
Please be careful not to confuse these with Base 2 + ni kuru / ni iku, which were covered in Lesson 13. Please review if necessary.
Word Check
sukoshi zutsu: little by little
nihongo: the Japanese language
wakaru: to understand
doitsu: Germany
rekishi: history
benkyou suru: to study
yasuku naru: to become less expensive (yasui [adj.]: cheap, inexpensive; combined with naru: to become; to grow)
sono tame: due to that
shiyousha: user (shiyou suru: to use, combined with sha: person)
fueru: to increase
omou: to think (used after to to mean "[I] think that...." See Lesson 45.)
shiraberu: to check (something); to examine; to look up (as in a dictionary or telephone book)
(Verbs are shown in their plain form.)
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