notes

  • 「行く」 means “to go (from where to speaker is to somewhere else)”
  • 「来る」 means “to come (from somewhere else to where the speaker is)”
  • 「行く」 can refer to going from the speaker’s location to another location or from one location away from the speaker to another location away from the speaker
    • 「行く」 can represent movement that does not involve the speaker (can be more objective than 「来る」 in this way)
  • 「来る」 can only refer to going towards the speaker’s location
  • ex: 「雨が降ってきた。」
    • this uses a time expression to state that rain has come to the present time
    • attached helper verbs tend to not use kanji
  • ex: 「だんだん雨が降っていく。」
    • this uses a time expression to state that the rain will increase in the future
  • the above examples use 「行く」 and 「来る」 to describe a continuing process
  • ex: 「勉強すれば、だんだん数学が分かってくる。」 means “If you study, math will gradually come to be understandable to you.”
  • ex: 「寒くなってきた。」 versus 「寒くなって行った。」
    • the first sentence implies that the cold is affecting the speaker subjectively
    • the second sentence more objectively implies movement without mentioning the speaker

      resources

  • youtube