行く

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Japanese

Kanji in this term

Grade: 2
kun'yomi
Alternative spellings
往く
逝く (rare)
Kanji in this term

Grade: 2
kun'yomi
Alternative spelling
往く

Etymology

From Old Japanese, from Proto-Japonic *iku. Cognate with Okinawan ()ちゅん (ichun), Miyako 行きぃ (iksï).

Pronunciation

  • Tokyo pitch accent of conjugated forms of 「行く
Source: Online Japanese Accent Dictionary
Stem forms
Terminal (終止形)
Attributive (連体形)
行く
Imperative (命令形) 行け
Key constructions
Passive 行かれる かれる
Causative 行かせる かせる
Potential 行ける ける
Volitional 行こう
Negative 行かない かない
Negative perfective 行かなかった かなかった
Formal 行きます きま
Perfective 行った った
Conjunctive 行って って
Hypothetical conditional 行けば

Verb

() or () (iku or yukuintransitive godan (stem () (iki), past ()った (itta))

  1. to go; to come to one's place
    (かれ)(きょう)()()っていたようだ。
    Kare wa Kyōto ni itte ita yō da.
    He seems to have been to Kyoto.
    (およ)ぎに()ってもいい?
    Oyogi ni itte mo ii?
    May I go swimming?
    (いま)()よ!
    Ima iku yo!
    I'm coming!
    もうこんな()(かん)そろそろ()なきゃ
    Mō konna jikan! Sorosoro ikanakya.
    Will you look at the time! I've got to get going.
  2. to (a letter) be delivered
  3. to depart
    ゆく(とし)くる(とし)
    Yuku toshi kuru toshi.
    A year departing and a year coming.
  4. to rely (on a method)
    これで()しかない。
    Kore de iku shika nai.
    The only option is to go with this.
  5. () to age
    (かれ)(とし)()っている。
    Kare wa toshi ga itte iru.
    He is old.
  6. (うまく) to go well
    そう(まい)()(もの)(ごと)はうまく()かない
    Sō maido monogoto wa umaku ikanai.
    Not every time do things go well.
  7. (auxiliary, usually spelled in hiragana) After the て-form of a verb:
    1. to continue to do something; to go on to do something
    2. to gradually do something
  8. イく: (slang) to have an orgasm, to come, to cum
    • 2009, Ichiro Suzuki in an interview after the World Baseball Classic
      気持(きも)()かったっすねえ。ほぼイキかけました。
      Kimochi yokatta ssu nē. Hobo ikikakemashita.
      It felt great. I almost came.

Usage notes

  • In English, the verbs go and come in the senses of physical motion are often used in relation to the listener. If Alice calls Bob and asks him if he is on his way to her party, he would say, "I'm coming."
However, in Japanese, the verbs 行く (iku, to go) and 来る (kuru, to come) are used in relation to the speaker. If Alice calls Bob and asks him if he is on his way to her party, he would instead say, 「行きます」 (Ikimasu, "I'm going").
  • The more common form, いく (iku), has a slightly irregular conjugation than a regular godan verb. Its perfective and conjunctive constructions are ()った (itta) and ()って (itte) respectively, instead of the expected いいた (iita) and いいて (iite). The literary form, ゆく (yuku), conjugates regularly as ()いた (yuita) and ()いて (yuite).
  • As an auxiliary, it is more commonly spelled in hiragana. It can also be colloquially shortened to てく (-teku).

Conjugation

Antonyms

See also

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN
  2. 2.0 2.1 NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute, editor (1998), NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 [NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary] (in Japanese), Tokyo: NHK Publishing, Inc., →ISBN
  3. 3.0 3.1 Kindaichi, Kyōsuke et al., editors (1997), 新明解国語辞典 [Shin Meikai Kokugo Jiten] (in Japanese), Fifth edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN