Come vs Go in English
Do you know that the concept of the verb come and go in Japanese and English are different? Not only that, the usage of come vs go in English itself may be very confusing for non-native English speakers! While both ‘come in’ and ‘go in’ is the synonym to the word ‘enter’, they are actually being used in different ways! Let’s learn how to use come and go in the correct way with LingoCards today!
The main difference of come vs go in English lies in the directions.
Come is an action that is moving toward the speaker and/or listener.
Simple Present Tense: Come
Simple Past Tense: Came
Past Participle: Come
Present Continuous Tense: To Be + Coming
Come closer to me!
[Notice that the action above indicates an action that is moving towards the speaker].
You can come to my house on the weekend.
[Notice that the action above indicates an action that is moving towards the speaker].
Can I come to your house on the weekend?
[Notice that the action above indicates an action that is moving towards the listener].
They will come to visit us when they are free.
[Notice that the action above indicates an action that is moving towards the speaker and listener].
His grandparents came from Australia to visit him last summer.
[Notice that the action above indicates an action that is moving towards the speaker and listener. We can assume that ‘the man’ lives in the same country with both the speaker and listener, while ‘his grandparents’ are living abroad (Australia) and will have a movement towards ‘the man’].
Go is an action that is moving away from the speaker or listener. If the mentioned location is far away from either the speaker or the listener, use ‘go’ as well.
Simple Present Tense: Go
Simple Past Tense: Went
Past Participle: Gone
Present Continuous Tense: To Be + Going
Go away from me!
[Notice that the action above indicates an action that is moving away from the speaker].
We can go to the supermarket together later.
[Notice that the mentioned location is far away from either the speaker or the listener].
He will go to Australia for visiting his grandparents next week.
[Notice that the mentioned location is far away from either the speaker or the listener. In addition, the sentence implies that both the speaker and listener are currently not staying in Australia].
Try to understand and remember: ‘You can come with me’ and ‘I will go with you’.
Come with me indicates the action towards the speaker, while
Go with you indicates the actions away from the speaker but closer to the listener.
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