MyHSK3 Logo

Lesson

Direction Complements: 来/去

1. Explain it simply

Put the direction complement 来 or 去 straight after a motion verb: 回来, 进去.

来 means toward the speaker; 去 means away from the speaker.

The word order is verb + 来/去, never 来/去 + verb.

Put 了 after the complement: 他回来了, not 他回了来.

2. Show examples

他回来了。

Tā huílái le.

He came back.

来 = toward the speaker

弟弟上去了。

Dìdi shàngqù le.

My younger brother went up.

去 = away from the speaker

请你进来。

Qǐng nǐ jìnlái.

Please come in.

imperative, no 了

3. Share a tip

Choose 来 or 去 by where the speaker stands, and keep the complement right after the verb - say 回来, not 来回.

MyHSK3 is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by the Center for Language Education and Cooperation (CLEC), Hanban, or the Chinese Ministry of Education. HSK is a trademark of its respective owner. All practice content on this site is original material and is not reproduced from official HSK exams or study materials.