过来/过去
guò lái / guò qù
Draw one line down the middle and 过来/过去 solve themselves
The picture A line drawn between here and there. Cross it toward me and it is 过来; cross it away from me and it is 过去. 过来 crosses a line toward here; 回来 goes back to the place it set out from.
Where the picture shows up in 过来/过去
-
crossing over to me
你过来一下,我给你看。
nǐ guò lái yí xià, wǒ gěi nǐ kàn
Come here a second, let me show you.
Someone standing over there crossing the room and ending up right in front of me.
-
crossing over from me
我现在过去接你。
wǒ xiànzài guò qù jiē nǐ
I'll come over and pick you up now.
Me going out the door, crossing one road, and turning up on the side where you are standing.
-
crossing back to yourself
他昏迷了三天才醒过来。
tā hūnmí le sān tiān cái xǐng guò lái
He was out for three days before he came round.
Closed eyelids opening as awareness crosses the line back into the body.
-
crossing out of yourself
她当场晕过去了。
tā dāngchǎng yūn guò qù le
She fainted right there on the spot.
Awareness crossing the line out of a standing body, leaving the body to fold up on the spot.
醒过来 crosses toward us, 晕过去 crosses away. Remember which side counts as normal and the pair stops being confusing.
-
not all of it crosses
活儿太多,一个人忙不过来。
huór tài duō, yí ge rén máng bu guò lái
There's too much work; one person can't keep up.
A pile of work shoved across to your side faster than two hands can take it, half of it still stacked on the far side.
All of it in one picture
过来 and 过去 are one line and something crossing it. A person crossing toward me is 过来; crossing away from me is 过去. Awareness does the same: cross back into the body and you come round, cross out of it and you black out. And when work keeps coming and you cannot get all of it across to your side, that is 忙不过来. So wherever 过 appears there is a line, and 来 or 去 only says which way the crossing went.