Skip to content

上来/上去

shàng lái / shàng qù

上来 and 上去 are not about up. They are about where you stand

The picture A single arrow pointing upward. If its tip comes toward you, that is 上来; if it leaves you behind, that is 上去. 上来/上去 climbs from below onto something higher; 下来/下去 runs from above down and away.

Endings and forms

Where the picture shows up in 上来/上去

  1. up to where I am

    电梯坏了,你走楼梯上来吧。

    diàntī huài le, nǐ zǒu lóutī shàng lái ba

    The lift is broken, come up the stairs.

    A head rising past the railing of the floor you are standing on, one stair at a time.

  2. up away from me

    我马上上去拿。

    wǒ mǎshàng shàng qù ná

    I'll go up and get it right now.

    A back turning away from you, climbing the stairs and disappearing onto the floor above.

  3. carried up to me

    麻烦你把这箱水搬上来。

    máfan nǐ bǎ zhè xiāng shuǐ bān shàng lái

    Could you bring this case of water up, please?

    A case of water carried up in two arms and set down at your feet on the upper floor.

  4. up onto a surface

    名字写上去就行了。

    míngzi xiě shàng qù jiù xíng le

    Just write your name on it.

    A pen tip touching the page so the letters of a name settle onto that surface and stay.

    Here 上 is not a floor but a surface. Landing on a page counts as 上 too.

  5. up out of your head

    你问我为什么,我一时说不上来。

    nǐ wèn wǒ wèishénme, wǒ yìshí shuō bu shàng lái

    You ask me why, and nothing comes to me right now.

    Words rising as far as your throat and stopping there, never making it up and out of your mouth.

All of it in one picture

上来 and 上去 are one arrow pointing up. When a person rides that arrow to your floor they come up; when they ride it away from you they go up; when a case of water rides it, someone carries it up to you. A name landing on a page climbs the same arrow onto a surface, and an answer that only gets as far as your throat is that climb stopping halfway. So wherever 上 appears, something moves from a lower place onto a higher one, and 来 or 去 only tells you whether that higher place is where you stand.

Next

See all Chinese core images