36.2 Directional Verbs

We can use the following directional verbs to indicate movement with a direction.

Culture

In Hong Kong, most people live in apartment buildings. 落 lok6 is often used to mean ‘to go down’ or ‘to come down’ from the apartment to the nearby area, and 上 soeng5 is often used to mean ‘to go up’ or ‘to come up’ to someone’s apartment.

We put a destination after a directional verb.

Although the directional verbs may mean to go to or to come to a direction, the intended meaning is usually obvious in the context. For simplicity, the translations will only include the meaning that fits the context from now on.

We often add the verb 去 heoi3 (‘to go’) or 嚟 lai4 (‘to come’, also pronounced as lei4) after a directional verb to indicate explicitly whether the movement is toward or away from our position. In grammar, 去 heoi3 or 嚟 lai4 after a directional verb is called a directional complement. It provides additional information about the direction of the movement. The table below shows all the combinations.

We use 去 heoi3 to indicate movement that is away from our current position or where we usually stay (e.g., our home or office). We also use 去 heoi3 when the movement is toward a location where we are not present. When 去 heoi3 is added, we put the destination after 去 heoi3.

We use 嚟 lai4 to indicate movement that is toward our current position or where we usually stay. When 嚟 lai4 is added, we put the destination after 嚟 lai4.

If the movement is toward the listener’s position, we can also use 嚟 lai4 even if we are moving away from our position. In this use, we describe the movement from the listener’s point of view. Compare:

We sometimes use a directional verb and 去 heoi3 or 嚟 lai4 without indicating a destination.

We sometimes add another verb phrase after the destination to indicate the purpose of the movement. In grammar, this is a type of serial verb construction.

We can also choose not to indicate a destination.