Here Are Some Notes About Coming and Going

This section will help you better understand how the words qù, lái and huí work in Mandarin.  You will basically learn they function the same as English!

• Qù - “go” (away from the speaker)

• Lái - “come” (towards the speaker)

• Huí - “to return” - we use huí to express returning to a place where you were there and is going to go back again such as home, office or school ect.

qù/lái/huí + place

A: Nǐ shénme shíhou lái zhōngguó？ ——> You when come to China? (When will you come to China?) 你什么时候来中国？ B: Wǒ èrlíng èrsān nián qù zhōngguó. ——> I 2023 year go to China. (I will go to China in 2023) 我二零二三年去中国。

When expressing the year, we say every single number with the year following by those numbers. For example, 2021 - èr líng èr yī nián. Person A is in China and person B, who is not in China, is going to China.

A: Nǐ jǐdiǎn huí jiā？ ——> You what time return home? (What time are you going home?) 你几点回家？ B: Wǒ xiàwǔ sāndiǎn bàn huí jiā. ——> I afternoon 3:30 return home. (I will go home at 3:30PM) 我下午三点半回家。

BONUS!!!

Qù and Lái can also be paired with huí and other simple verbs, but we are only going to cover huí + qù and lái for now.

huílái - come back (lit: back come)

A is at home and ask A’s husband (B) who is at office now. A: Nǐ jǐdiǎn huílái？ ——> You what time come back? 你几点回来？ B: Wǒ wǎnshàng bādiǎn huíqù. ——> I night 8’clock go back. 我晚上八点回去。

huíqù - go back (lit: back go)

A is at her office and ask A’s husband (B) who is at his office now. A: Nǐ jǐdiǎn huíqù？ ——> You what time go back? 你几点回去？ B: Wǒ xiàwǔ wǔdiǎn huíqù. ——> I afternoon 5 o'clock go back. 我下午五点回去。