Structure
くる
Details
Verb
Independent Word
Standard
About くる
来る is one of only two main verbs in Japanese that do not follow the standard rules of conjugation for Godan and Ichidan verbs. The other primary verb being する. 来る means 'to come', or 'to be coming'.
来る will always have the particle に or へ attached to the location that someone 'will come', or 'has come'.
The reason that 来る is called a か-column irregular conjugation verb in Japanese is because the る in 来る does not conjugate, but is dropped. This leaves the く being the part that conjugates. Because of this, 来る has qualities of both る-Verbs (the る being dropped), and う-Verbs (the remaining く changing depending on the conjugation). Here are some examples of how 来る changes.
（き）た, （く）る, （こ）ない.
来る will often be seen as 来ている when someone has come to a place and remains there. This is due to ている meaning 'to exist in the state of an action', rather than being exactly the same as '(A)~ing' in English. Because of this, 来ている can mean either 'to be somewhere that one has come', or 'to be coming'.
Sometimes the difference between these two will not be clear unless there is further context.
Caution
来ている (for existing at a place) is only used for places that people 'temporarily' go, so will not be used when you are at your home/work.
Antonyms
Related
Examples
--:--
トムはここにくる。
Tom will come here.
バスがくる。
The bus will come.
彼はバスできます。
He will come by bus.
友達もきますか。
Will your friend come too?
明日きます。
I will come tomorrow.
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Conjugations of「くる」
Japanese Language Guide
Special uses of「くる」
Self Taught Japanese
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[DBJG] A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar
Page 219
Genki I
Page 59
Genki I 2nd Edition
Page 89
みんなの日本語 I
Page 38 [CH 5]
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くる – Grammar Discussion
Most Recent Replies (8 in total)
stupidguy
I got this wrong for using the particle に.
right:
明日きます。
wrong:
明日にきます。
Is it actually wrong?
JamesBunpro
Generally words which talk about time from a relative position (today, tomorrow, etc) do not use に. They can be considered as being used adverbially, not as nouns, in such cases. So, 明日に来ます would normally be considered unnatural.
From the perspective of what is being tested in the grammar reviews for this point, you don’t need to worry about adding a particle anyway!
stupidguy
Understood, thank you! You also answered my omitted second question with that (“adverbially, not as nouns”).
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