ていく and てくる
Verb comes, Verb goes
Verb て form + くる – Verb comes
Verb て form + いく – Verb goes
いく and くる are verbs that represent “movement“, but in different directions.
- いく implies moving away from the current location/time (you);
- くる implies coming towards the current location/time (you).
This nuance of いく and くる manifests itself strongly in the ていく and てくる patterns, which, in addition to their normal meanings, can be used to describe something going away or coming to be.
Normal Meaning
X and Go
X and Come
The first thing to get out of the way is that ていく and てくる can just be verb て form verb (verb and verb) pattern.
This is the only meaning where you usually use the kanji for 行く and 来る
Examples
- たべていく – Eat and then go (there). (Probably talking about yourself)
- ねていく – Sleep and then go (there). (Probably talking about yourself)
- 話してくる – Talk and then come (back here). (Probably yourself. This is very common)
- シャワーしてくる – Talk and then come (here). (Probably talking about someone else)
- 買ってくる – Buy and then come (back here)
Direction
X and Go Away
X and Come Towards
This is basically the same as the above, but applies to the verb and not the topic. I.E. it’s the verb that goes or comes, not the person. It describes changes in states.
Examples
- 日が沈んでいった – The sun went down. (The sun set-away)
- 月が登ってきた – The moon came up. (The moon climbed-towards)
- 持っていく – Carry it (away from here)
- 持ってくる – Bring it (to here)
This pattern can also be used for verbs done “towards you” (くる）or away from you (いく
- 電話をかけてきた – Called (at) me. “Came calling me”
- 歩いていった – Walked away from me.
- 話してきた – Came to talk to me.
Special case verbs
You may skip this section.
There are some special use cases for てくる, mostly pertaining to communication. These verbs require a てきた if they came to you. (but not away from you).
- 私は友達に電話をかけた 〇 – I placed a call to my friend. (They may not answer)
- 友達は私に電話をかけた ✖ – My friend placed a call to me. (I didn’t answer)
- 友達は私に電話をかけてきた 〇 – My friend placed a call to me, and it came. (I answered).
- 私は友達に電話をかけて行った ✖- I placed a call to my friend, and it went there (no difference).
In this case, きた functions as “arrive“. It indicates whether the action reached you. This is probably why we don’t need to say いった (of course it went). This is also true for はこぶ、おくる, and れんらく。(source)
Time (Continuation)
Continue Forward in Time
Came to be
This meaning is used to describe a continued state. The “place” referenced by いく and くる is the current time. This means いく is used for “will continue” states, and くる for “continued” states. One note is that because いく means continue, the state/verb must have started.
- 花はしおれていく – Flowers wilt away. (or are going to wilt away)
- 慣れていく – get used to (or will get used to)
- 慣れてきた – Got used to
- 20年もやってきた – I came doing it for 20 years. → I’ve been doing it for 20 years
- 歩いていく – Walk on. (continue walking) (Could be physical direction as well)
As a change
When used with なる、they indicate a continuation of change (no surprise there). This means a gradual change.
- 赤くなってきた – It (gradually) became red. (became red with time)
- 赤くなっていく – It will (gradually) become red. (become red with time)
- 赤くなった – It became red.
てきた can also impart a “came to be” meaning onto (typically) intransitive (state) verbs.
- 増えてきた – came to increase (increased up to now)
- 慣れてきた – got used to (up until now)
- 雨がふってきた – It started to rain (rain came falling)
- 寒くなってきた – It became colder. → It’s gotten cold.
ていった and てくる
By now, I think you’ve got the “to me” “away from me” part down. But there is one more small difference to discuss, and its about continuation ていった and てくる.
When continuation ていった is used, it positions the perspective into the past.
This is because ていく implies going forward in time, but that “forward” is still past tense, so for this to work, you must be in the past at the time that it is occurring.
日が沈んでいった – Earlier, the sun went down. → Earlier, the sun was going down. (I watched)
When using てくる to describe a continued state in the present/future tense, it implies that such a thing will come to be, with certainty. ”It (will) come(s) to be” This is more common with a conditional.
- 有名人になったら、金も増えてくる – When you become famous, you will come to have more money.
Comparison
- 日が沈んでいった – The sun was going down. (implies you watched it set)
- 日が沈んできた – The sun came/is down (came to be down) (its down)
- 日が沈んでくる – The sun will come down.
- 日が昇ってくる – The sun will come up.
- 日が昇っていく – The sun will go up.
- 日が沈んだ – The sun set.