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come

kʌm

Why "I'm coming" means you're going over there

The picture Something out there moves toward the spot the conversation sits on and arrives. People, prices, even pain arrive at that spot. COME moves toward the spot the story is standing on; GO moves away from it.

Core verbs

Where the picture shows up in come

  1. move in toward me

    Come in and take a seat.

    kʌm ɪn ənd teɪk ə siːt

    Step in and have a seat.

    Someone standing outside the door stepping over the threshold into the room.

  2. move toward you

    Wait, I'm coming with you.

    weɪt aɪm ˈkʌmɪŋ wɪð juː

    Hang on, I'll join you.

    You catching up to the side of the person already walking ahead.

    Heading to where the listener stands is come, not go — the center of the talk is with them.

  3. a number lands there

    The bill came to thirty dollars.

    ðə bɪl keɪm tuː ˈθɜːrti ˈdɑːlərz

    That's thirty dollars in total.

    The register's number climbing until it lands exactly on thirty dollars.

  4. a product shows up as

    This shirt comes in three colors.

    ðɪs ʃɜːrt kʌmz ɪn θriː ˈkʌlərz

    This shirt is available in three colors.

    A shirt coming out of the stockroom onto the rack wearing three different colors.

  5. pain returns to you

    My headache is coming back.

    maɪ ˈhedeɪk ɪz ˈkʌmɪŋ bæk

    My headache is back.

    A headache that had faded moving back toward your head again.

All of it in one picture

come is an arrow moving toward the spot the story is standing on. A person crosses the threshold, so they come in; you close the gap to where the other person is, so you are coming with them. A number climbs until it lands on thirty dollars, so the bill comes to that; a shirt arrives on the rack in three colors, so it comes in three; and a headache moves back toward you, so it is coming back. Every come has something out there arriving at this spot.

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See all English core images