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In many beginning Japanese classes, 来る【くる】 and 行く【いく】 are presented as "to
come" and "to go," respectively. Dictionaries generally also define them this
way. However, every once in a while in more advanced classes, teachers will
mention that this is not actually the case; these words are used differently
in Japanese than their English (pseudo-)counterparts.

I cannot for the life of me remember the proper way to understand the
differentiation between these verbs, past "come" and "go," a fact which is
most embarassing.

Can someone please explain how these words are different than the English
"come" and "go" in their usage?

Related question: [Difference between -ていく and
-てくる](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/676/384)
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2011-07-01T05:10:50.213
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question
word-choice usage vocabulary
What is the *proper* differentiation between 来る and 行く?
「来る」 implies motion or action towards or ending at the speaker or the
speaker's current situation, whereas 「行く」 implies motion or action away from
or beginning at the speaker or the speaker's situation.
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2011-07-01T05:46:19.607
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answer
As usual, I'll _go_ for examples which should _come_ in handy. Check the
emphasized words. (The translations are not natural, but it's not the point
here.)

**_Sample 1_**

> Won't you come visit _me_ in France?  
>  フランスに来ませんか？待っていますよ！
>
> Yes, I will go _to France_. We will go see the Arc de Triomphe.  
>  はい、フランスに行きますよ。一緒に凱旋門を見に行きましょう。
>
> Great. Mark came last summer already.  
>  良かった。去年の夏はマークさんが来たよ。

**_Sample 2_**

> Will you come/go to _John_ 's party tonight?  
>  今晩、ジョンさんのパーティに行きますか？
>
> No, I won't go to _John_ 's.  
>  いいえ、行きません。
>
> Paul is not coming/going either.  
>  ポールさんも行きません。

**_Sample 3_**

> Come here!  
>  来てください!
>
> Yes sir! I'm coming right away.  
>  はい、すぐ行きます。

**_Summary_**

Tarou is at place A, Jun is at place B. Tarou calls motions towards A as "来る".
Tarou calls motions away from A as "行く". Tarou calls motions towards Jun as
"行く".

行く/来る is from-here/to-here relatively to the person who uses the verb now. (I
suddenly have a doubt for a situation like "will you visit me at my new home
_when I moved to France_ ". I think "来る" would still be good, because it's
still about the narrator being reached.)
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2011-07-01T08:23:19.157
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answer
As Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams says, the key is the difference in point of
reference. So when the first and the second person's perspective are the same,
Japanese and English have the same distinction for these words. Difference
between Japanese and English appears when the first and the second person's
perspective are different. That is typical when someone is calling another. A
different famous example is the words said at sexual climax. In English,
people say `I'm coming`. This is in second person's perspective. In Japanese,
people say `行く`. This is in first person's perspective.
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2011-07-02T15:52:22.813
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answer
There are many cases where the Japanese "KURU/KIMASU" really means the same as
the English "come", and the Japanese "IKU/IKIMASU" really means the same as
the English "go", but there's a certain case where it's used differently.
Let's look at the following 4 scenarios.

This video explains with animations: [I'll come or I'll
go?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpKPOrjuMcg&ab_channel=ShiroNekoJapanese)

Basically,

> KURU/KIMASU - Someone or something is moving toward you or whoever the
> speaker is
>
> IKU/IKIMASU - Someone or something is moving AWAY from you or whoever the
> speaker is. When you are the speaker, you will still be moving away from
> yourself(the speaker) or your current position by "going somehwere"

## Scenario 1:

In this scenario, you are talking with A about "B coming" to you (B moving
toward you). In English, you'd say "B comes" because B is moving toward the
speaker, which is you, the white cat in the picture. It's the same thing in
Japanese, so you'd call B's action as "KIMASU" because B is moving toward the
speaker. [![You are talking with A about B coming toward
you](https://i.stack.imgur.com/zHccd.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/zHccd.jpg)

## Scenario 2:

In this scenario, you are talking with A about A's action. In English, you'd
ask "Will you come?" because you want to know whether A will be coming toward
you, the speaker (the white cat in the picture). It's the same thing in
Japanese, so you'd call A's action as "KIMASU" because A is moving toward the
speaker. [![You are talking with A about A coming toward
you](https://i.stack.imgur.com/DBVuM.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/DBVuM.jpg)

## Scenario 3:

In this scenario, you are talking with A about you going to the third person,
B. You are moving away, so you'd tell A "I'll go (to B)" in English. Again,
it's the same thing in Japanese, you are moving away from the speaker, which
is yourself, the white cat in the picture, so you'd call your own action as
"IKIMASU" [![You are talking with A about you going to
B](https://i.stack.imgur.com/liADF.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/liADF.jpg)

## Scenario 4:

In this scenario, you are talking with A about you going to A. In English,
"come" is used when you are moving toward the person you are talking to, so
you'd say "I'll come (to you)". BUT, in Japanese, it doesn't matter where you
are moving to. It doesn't matter that you are moving toward the person you are
talking to. `As long as you are moving away from the speaker, which is
yourself, the white cat in the picture, you'd call your action as "IKIMASU"`.
[![enter image description
here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/Lvz4x.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/Lvz4x.jpg)

Hope this helps.
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