行く・いく (1)

Verb (Group 1) (Basic ㊦ 149)

Someone or something moves in a direction away from the speaker or the speaker’s viewpoint.

Equivalent: Go; come

田中さんは来週アメリカへ・に行く・行きます。: Mr. Tanaka is going to America next week.
私は東京から大阪までバスで行った・行きました。: I went from Tokyo to Osaka by bus.
私は毎朝八時に会社に行く。: I go to work at eight every morning.
A:今晩私のうちでパーティーをしますが来ませんか。 B:はい、行きます。: A: We are going to have a party at my place tonight. Wouldn't you like to come? B: Yes, I'll come.
あなたにもその知らせは行きましたか。: Did the notice go to you, too?
その村にもバスは行っている。: The bus goes to the village, too.

Notes

1. 行く1 is used when someone or something moves in a direction away from the speaker or in a direction away from the speakers viewpoint, which is not necessarily the speaker's position. (⇨ 来る1) For example, in the following situation, 行く is used when the speaker (point C) places his viewpoint near point A.

XさんはBに行った。
Mr. X went to B.

	B
Xさん (^_^)	／	C
	A [うち]

2. When someone goes to his own "home base" (e.g., うち 'home'), うちに行く is ungrammatical. In this case, 帰る 'return' is used as in うちに帰る 'go home'.

3. There are cases where both 来る and 行く can be used with different shades of meaning. Examples:

君のうちに息子が来ませんでした/行きませんでしたか。
Didn't my son go to your house?

スミスさんは来月ロスアンジェルスに来る/行くそうですね。
Mr. Smith, I was told that you're coming to Los Angeles next month.

In (2), when the speaker uses 来る, he is putting himself psychologically in the addressee's location; when he uses 行く he is not. In (3), 来る is more appropriate than 行く because, in general, a speaker is more empathetic with a location close to his own. The choice of 行く here definitely implies that the speaker is unusually unempathetic with his neighboring location.