～ていく (teiku) Meaning Japanese Grammar - Keep Doing

The expression ～ていく (〜te iku) uses the て form of the main verb combined with いく, which literally means go or move forward.

It describes the evolution or change of the situation expressed by the main verb, developing progressively from the present into the future.

The translation depends on the context and the specific sentence, but to convey the idea of the structure, we can use verbs like:

• become
• move toward
• continue doing

In many cases, the translation is simply the future form of the main verb.

How to form ～ていく

The structure ～ていく is formed by the て form of a verb て形(けい) combined with the verb 行(い)く meaning go, conjugated in various tenses and forms.

The verb いく can be expressed in its various forms:

• ていく — plain affirmative form
• ていかない — plain negative form
• ていきます — polite affirmative form
• ていきません — polite negative form
• ていきましょう — volitional form (let’s do)
• ていきたい — volitional form (want to do) etc.

Example of the て form with the Ichidan verb 決(きめ)る decide:

• If I say 決(きめ)る, I express that I decide something in a general sense; I indicate the act of making a decision.
• If I say 決(きめ)ていく , I emphasize that from the moment I speak, I will decide things gradually, step by step, progressively toward the future: I will gradually decide what to do from now on.

Example of the て form with the Godan verb 読(よ)む read:

Godan verbs have the て form endings such as て, で, って, んで, いで, いて, depending on their final syllable. Here is the link to the various forms.

For the irregular verbs 来(く)る and する, the て forms are 来(き)て and して, respectively.

～ていく to describe evolution and change toward the future

The structure with ～ていく is used to describe the progressive evolution over time and the continuity of an action that begins at the moment of speaking and develops into the immediate future.

From this moment ⇨ toward the future

The action expressed by this sentence starts from the present moment when I am speaking and will continue to develop into the near future, in this case, from now until later.

Also, in the previous sentence, we notice the change toward the near future: from this moment on, I organize and develop the project.

In this case, we have a natural change caused by the current weather condition.

～ていく to describe a movement

～ていく is also used to express movement and direction; in particular, it emphasizes progressive movement over time and a direction that often gradually moves away from the speaker.

This sentence is imperative and means "go out and go away!", "away from here!".

Other examples of ～ていく

The expressed action indicates a volitional form using the suffix たい, showing the desire to commit and improve progressively and continuously over time.

歩いて行ける represents a potential form and the structure consists of:

• 歩(ある)いて the て form of the verb 歩(ある)く walk
• 行(い)ける the potential form of 行(い)く can go, be able to go