来(く)る

くる
verb (irregular)
to come
自動詞 intransitivemovement
Conjugation
AffirmativeNegative
Present来(く)る来(こ)ない
Present polite来(き)ます来(き)ません
Past来(き)た来(こ)なかった
Past polite来(き)ました来(き)ませんでした
て form来(き)て来(こ)なくて
ている present来(き)ている来(き)ていない
ている polite来(き)ています来(き)ていません
ている past来(き)ていた来(き)ていなかった
ている past polite来(き)ていました来(き)ていませんでした
Conditional ば来(く)れば来(こ)なければ
Conditional たら来(き)たら来(こ)なかったら
Volitional来(こ)よう—
Volitional polite来(き)ましょう—
Potential来(こ)られる来(こ)られない
Passive来(こ)られる来(こ)られない
Causative来(こ)させる来(こ)させない
Imperative来(こ)い来(く)るな
1. to come, to arrive
Expresses movement toward the speaker's current location or reference point. The opposite of 行(い)く (to go). Used when the speaker is at or identifies with the destination.
こっちに来(き)て!
Come here!
バスが来(き)た!
The bus is here!
My friend came to my house.
Every Sunday my friend comes over to hang out.
The bus wasn't coming, so I waited for thirty minutes.
2. (after the te-form) to begin to, to come to; to have been (doing) up to now
Attached to the te-form of another verb (〜てくる), it marks a change that has begun or developed up to now, an action continued up to the present, or movement toward the speaker after doing something.
It's gotten cold.
〜てくる expressing gradual change
It started raining.
〜てくる expressing beginning of an action
I've come to understand Japanese.
While I was running, I started to get hot.
Because I've been practicing all along, I can now speak well.
〜てくる expressing action continuing up to the present

Transitivity: 自動詞(じどうし) (intransitive). Counterpart: 行(い)く (to go). Pattern: Xに/へ来(く)る (come to X).

Aspect: ている indicates resulting state or habitual. 来(き)ている = 'has come (and is here)' or 'comes regularly.'

Common patterns

Forms

One of the two irregular verbs (with する). Reading changes: く→こ (negative), く→き (te-form, past, polite).

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