Grammar Info

N5 Lesson 5: 12/12

～に行(い)くTo go ~, To go in order to ~

Structure

Verb［stem］+ に + 行(い)く

Details

  • Expression

  • Verb

  • Standard

About Verb + にいく

に行(い)く is a grammar construction that is used when someone is going somewhere for the purpose of doing (A). (A) representing the verb that comes before に行(い)く. As with other uses of に, this particle is highlighting an end point or goal of 'going'.

When using this structure, it will be important to remember that (A) will appear in its stem form, before に行(い)く gets attached to the end.

This grammar point is regularly translated as 'to go in order to (A)'.

If you have already 'gone' somewhere for the purpose of doing something, then you would use '(A) に来(き)た', while at the location.

Related

Vocab Coverage

All Bunpro Vocab that appears on this item.

Examples

--:--

  • ラーメンを食(た)べにいく。

    To go eat ramen. (to go in order to eat)

  • サッカーをしにいく。

    To go play soccer. (to go in order to play)

  • 日本語(にほんご)を勉強(べんきょう)しにいきます。

    I will go study Japanese. (to go in order to study)

  • 公園(こうえん)へ遊(あそ)びにいった。

    I went to play at the park. (to go in order to play)

  • 本(ほん)を買(か)いにいきます。

    I will go buy a book. (to go in order to buy)

  • Get more example sentences!

    Premium users get access to 12 example sentences on all Grammar Points.

Self-Study Sentences

Study your own way!

Add sentences and study them alongside Bunpro sentences.

Verb + にいく – Grammar Discussion

Most Recent Replies (34 in total)

  • norah

    norah

    This feels like taking an unnecessary extra step to fit it into a neat description short-hand description that works for both ichidan and godan verbs. Verbs don’t really conjugate into “ます conjugation”. “ます” is just a verb.

    For godan verbs they conjugate into i-stem, which we even see in this response:
    休 む → 休み
    歩 く → 歩き

    For ichidan all that happens is removing “る” as with basically all ichidan conjugations.

    As explained here we then add “ます”, and then remove “ます”, and then add in “に行く”

    So isn’t adding in “ます” just an extra step to use the same description for ichidan and godan verbs? That’s… weird.

    Anyways, I’ll drop in a little video that I think could be useful to most who stumble in here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGA6Tj9_lSg

  • AngelN

    AngelN

    勉強 (study) is a noun which also has a verb version, 勉強する (to study). With such suru verb constructions, there is no を, as the entire thing is one singular verb unit “勉強する”.

    Now, interestingly enough, what can make this confusing, is that some of these nouns, like 勉強, can also be used with the standard use of する. You can indeed say 勉強をする, which has a slightly difference nuance and use to it.

    勉強する - to study (verb)
    勉強をする - to do the study (noun being done by a verb)

    It’s just one of those things to keep an eye on.

  • TheeHistorian

    TheeHistorian

    I am confused on how you make this past tense. Was there a explanation for this in a lesson and I missed it because the only thing I’ve seen are example sentences showing this in different past tense congugations and no explanation on when to use which rule. If I wanted to just read sentences and repeat them to learn grammar and not understand it said grammar I would just stuck to duolingo.

Got questions about Verb + にいく? Join us to discuss, ask, and learn together!

Join the Discussion