- Basic forms
- 来る(くる)— to come / base form
- 来ます(きます)— polite / I come / masu form
- 来た(きた)— past / came / ta form
- 来て(きて)— te-form / come (and …) / linking or request
- 来ない(こない)— negative / don’t come / negative form
- 来れば(くれば)— if (someone) comes / conditional
- 来い(こい)— come! / imperative
- Other common forms
- 来たい(きたい)— want to come / 〜たい form
- 来られる(こられる)— can come / be able to come / potential
- 来なかった(こなかった)— didn’t come / past negative
- More
- 来よう(こよう)— let’s come / 〜よう form
- 来ている(きている)— coming / has come / progressive / state
来る (くる) is an irregular verb — one of only two major irregular verbs in Japanese (the other is する). Its stem changes between く, き, こ depending on the form. Common examples include: 友だちが来る — “A friend comes.” 明日来てください — “Please come tomorrow.”
- 来週 — next week
- 未来 — future
- 来日 — coming to Japan
- 以来 — since; ever since
- 往来 — traffic; coming and going
More examples ▼
The traditional form of this kanji (來) shows wheat growing upward. It was borrowed for its meaning "to come." The simplified version 来 is used in modern Japanese. It appears frequently in both time-related and motion-related words.
きのう、友達が来ました。
My friend came yesterday.
来週、テストがあります。
There is a test next week.
