Level 1 · Beginner
Going and coming: 去 and 来
去 / 来 + Place · Traditional: 去 / 來 + Place
去 (qù) is movement away from the speaker ("go"), 来 (lái) is movement toward the speaker ("come"). Both take the destination directly — no "to" needed: 我去学校 "I'm going to school".
For going back somewhere you belong, use 回: 回家 "go home", 回国 "return to your country".
Examples
我去学校。
我去學校。
wǒ qù xué xiào
I'm going to school.
他明天来我家。
他明天來我家。
tā míng tiān lái wǒ jiā
He's coming to my place tomorrow.
我们星期六去买东西。
我們星期六去買東西。
wǒ men xīng qī liù qù mǎi dōng xi
We're going shopping on Saturday.
你什么时候回家？
你什麼時候回家？
nǐ shén me shí hou huí jiā
When are you going home?
Common mistakes
✗ 我去在学校。
✓ 我去学校。
去 takes the place directly — no 在 or other preposition in between.
Related grammar points
Practice this pattern in graded stories like Coming Home (Part 8), Xiao Bai Gets Sick (Part 5) inside the Literate Chinese app.
