Chinese Verb "来" (lái)

to come

Movement verb

Basic Usage

Basic

Subject + 来 + place

请来我家。

Qǐng lái wǒ jiā.

Please come to my house.

Completed Action (了 (le))

Completed with 了

Subject + 来 + 了

他来了。

Tā lái le.

He came. / He's here.

Experience (过 (guò))

Experience with 过

Subject + 来 + 过 + place

你来过北京吗？

Nǐ lái guò Běijīng ma?

Have you ever been to Beijing?

Ongoing Action (在/着)

In progress

Subject + 在 + 来 + 的路上

他在来的路上。

Tā zài lái de lùshàng.

He is on his way.

Future / Intent (会/要/想)

Future with 会

Subject + 会 + 来

她明天会来。

Tā míngtiān huì lái.

She will come tomorrow.

Negation (不/没)

Negative with 不

Subject + 不来

他不来了。

Tā bù lái le.

He's not coming anymore.

Negative past

Subject + 没来

她昨天没来上课。

Tā zuótiān méi lái shàngkè.

She didn't come to class yesterday.

Common Compounds & Related Words

Chinese	Pinyin	Meaning
出来	chūlái	to come out
回来	huílái	to come back
起来	qǐlái	to get up / to begin to
原来	yuánlái	originally / it turns out

Example Sentences

欢迎你来中国！

Huānyíng nǐ lái Zhōngguó!

Welcome to China!

来，坐这儿。

Lái, zuò zhèr.

Come, sit here.

下雨了，快回来！

Xià yǔ le, kuài huílái!

It's raining, come back quickly!