にいく (niiku) Meaning Japanese Grammar - To Go
Sandro Maglione
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Sandro Maglione
3 min reading time
The expression にいく (niiku) means to go, to go for the purpose of going.
にいく is used to express the purpose for going to a certain place, in particular the action one intends to do after having going there.
In this post we learn more about meaning of にいく, how it is formed, and when にいく is used through real example sentences.
How にいく is formed
The expression にいく is formed by:
- Particle に: indicates "destination", the "place" towards which one moves
- 行く: Godan verb which means
to go
にいく is applied to a verb conjugated in the conjunctive form 連用形 (the same as the masu form):
Let's see an example of conjugation with the verb 釣る to fish:
釣りに行く。
Go fishing.
The expression にいく can also be found in the kanji form に行く.
How and when to use にいく
に行く means going for the purpose of. This expression is used when someone goes to a place to perform a certain action, indicated before にいく.
飲みに行く。
Go drinking.
In this example we find the verb 飲む to drink, which when conjugated becomes 飲み, and applied to the expression にいく:
The sentence indicates that the purpose of going (行く) is to perform the action of drinking (飲む).
コンビニへ水を買いに行きます。
I'm going to the convenience store to buy some water.
にいく and にきた
An expression similar to にいく is に来た. に来た uses the verb 来る to come instead of the verb 行く to go.
に来た is used when the action of going has already been done.
So when you are already in the place you went to for a specific purpose, then you use に来た instead of に行く.
釣りに来た。
Came to fish.
Examples of にいく
京都へ友達に会いに行きます。
I will go to Kyoto to meet my friends.
海へ泳ぎに行く。
I am going to swim in the sea.
どこへ買い物に行きますか。
Where do you go shopping?
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