ていく - Grammar Discussion

Grammar Points
#1

to go on
to start
to do and go

Structure

  • Verb[ て ] + いく

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#2

I’m not sure when to use this over ていて. For example, why in the below example is this a grammar point for ていく?
お医者さんに行って、薬をもらっていくね

Thank you all in advance

#3

Is there any meaningful difference between ていく & にいく？
They both seem to be the same thing to me
I tried finding a comparison online between the two and couldn’t find one.
Is there something different? Am I just stupid and these are nothing alike?
Please explain to me, if you could, like your speaking to a child

#4

By にいく do you mean 連用形＋にいく? E.g., 花を見に行く

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#5

yes that’s now i mean sorry i should have been more clear
this one

#6

OK, cool. In the 連用形＋に行く grammar point, 連用形＋に expresses the purpose for which you are going. You are going in order to do “verb.” There’s an intentionality to the going, if you will.

For ～ていく, the meaning is either a sequence of action (do “verb” and go) or showing the progress, advancement, or continuation of action (started doing “verb” and then went on doing it). Note that this second meaning differs subtly but importantly from ている, which indicates being in a given state (or doing an action) without any progress or advancement being implied.

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#7

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So why does this sentence have the を after a non-nominalized verb? I thought it should’ve been something like たまっていくのを

#8

Good catch! That’s a typo. You can use the Report + button that appears in the lower right-hand corner of the review page to helpfully point things like that out to the staff.

#9

You are correct! There should be a の there. Thank you for letting us know about this typo!

#10

The description says “This is the opposite of てくる”, but it just accepted me typing just that for “If you start studying Japanese now, you will go on to become more proficient.”. Are both actually correct for that sentence?

#11

I think in the Japanese sentence, both -ていく and -てくる work. Maybe -ていく fits the English translation better considering that this is a learning platform and “go on” is a pretty strong hint that we’re supposed to use “go”, but the content of statement is not actually different. The difference is the point of reference.

With -ていく, the point of reference is in the present or in the future. In this case, I think it makes sense to think of it as the point in time in the future where the person starts studying Japanese. From that point onward, the person will become more and more proficient.

With -てくる, the point of reference is in the future and the statement is looking at the development up to that point. If the person starts studying Japanese now, then at some point in the future, they will have started to become more and more proficient. (I have to put “started to” because -てくる only means the event has been going on for some time up to the point of reference, but it doesn’t imply that it stops.)

At the end of the day, the content of both variants boils down to “at some point in the future, proficiency will start to improve and then continue to improve” so that would explain why both are accepted, although it could have been an orange hint too.

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#12

Thanks for the explanation.

Mostly it was because of the context of the review. I think some hint that it may not be what was actually asked should be given, at least.

#13

One of the examples for this grammar point is:

何()か食()べて行()ってください。

and it is translated as

Please eat something before you go.

I have no idea where does before come from. Can someone explain? I can maybe explain this translation with plain て form and it’s ability to order events ( eat then go ). Is it really ていく example?

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#14

So I understand most of these examples here, except for the very first one in the grammar lesson itself which seems very differently interpreted than the rest and threw me off for awhile, but maybe I’m misunderstanding some nuance of the phrase or translation:

今日は家で食べていく? which is translated to “Do you want to go and eat at my place tonight?”

This seems at odds with the rest of the examples since the order of actions is flipped, “go and do (A)” vs “(A) and then go” and the translation seems more akin to: 今日は家で食べに行く? since verb + に行く is usually understood as “to go and do (A).” right?

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#15

I had the same problem with the first example but I found an answer there : 行く・来る: Japanese Verbs for "Go" and "Come"

"Japanese :
夕飯、食べていく？
English :
Would you like to have supper here?
(Literally: Are you going to eat supper and then go?)

If you look at the literal meaning, it may seem a strange way of asking the question. However, by adding 行く, your friend’s mother can show she is aware that you have to leave at some point. It’s a small additional nuance, but now the question can ask if you are willing to eat dinner while you are still at their place."

So I think the example is more “do you want to eat and then go (to your home) ?”