GO — COME, CARRY — BRING: verbs that lend themselves to confusion Hello! Today we are going to immerse ourselves in the exciting world of verbs that sometimes make us go around and around. We are talking about those tricky verbs go/come and carry/bring, which create so much confusion for students of the
Hello!
Today we are going to immerse ourselves in the exciting world of verbs that sometimes make us go around and around.
We talk about those tricky verbs go / come and carry/bring, which creates so much confusion for students of Spanish.
These verbs test us when communicating in Spanish, since sometimes their meanings are intertwined and the same prepositions are used.
But don't worry, because we are here to untangle this mess.
Today we are going to discover the differences between these verbs and how to use them appropriately with different prepositions and structures
Let's get started!
We start with the duo come and go.
Both are considered as verbs of motion.
Don't you know what the verbs of movement are in Spanish?
They are those that refer to actions that express a movement to a place.
Other movement verbs would be, for example, verb arrive, go up, enter, go down, move, etc.
They are normally also accompanied by prepositions of movement.
Some of the prepositions of movement that are most used with the verbs go and come are:
To, for, of and from.
Later we will see how to correctly use each verb with these prepositions.
In what situation is the verb "go" used, and in what situations "come"?
What is the difference between "carry" and "bring"?
Right now you are going to clear up your doubts and finally solve this little mess that confuses you so much.
Let's see what are the tricks to correctly use go/come and carry/bring.
When using the verbs go and come, it is important to take into account the reference point from which the speaker speaks.
If the speaker is in the place you are talking about at that same moment, the verb is used come.
For example, if you are at home and want to invite someone, you will say:
On the other hand, if the speaker is in another place other than the one mentioned, the verb is used go.
For example, if you are in the office and after work you want to go to the beach, you will say:
When we refer to the place we want to go, we use the verb go.
When we use the verb «go + to + place » we are specifying the destination place which we want to reach.
Example:
When we want to express the direction towards which we are heading, we also use the verb go.
The preposition "to" It also works, although we have another preposition that specifically expresses direction or the direction that is being taken. This preposition is «towards».
Example:
When we refer toplace we come from, we use the verbcome.
This verb indicates movement from a specific place to the place where the speaker is.
To talk about the place of origin, the verb come is used with the preposition"of"followed by the place of origin.
Example:
Now we are going to talk about the verbs go and come separately.
We start with theverb to go in Spanish.
The verb go can indicate thedestination placewhich we want to reach.
In case you don't remember, we review thepresent indicative of the verb ir:
| Person | verb go |
|---|---|
|
I |
go |
|
You |
you go |
|
He/She/You |
goes |
|
We |
come on |
|
You |
you go |
|
They/Them/You |
they go |
For this, we use the following structure.
With thisstructureWe can express where we are going in Spanish.
Examples:
Another use of the verb go ismark the addresswhere the movement is going.
For this, we change the preposition. We no longer use "a" but"for"either"toward".
With these prepositions we express thedirection we take.
Example:
Normally, address and destination usually coincide, but it is not always the same place.
In the previous example, Madrid is the address that I am going to take as a reference, but perhaps my destination is a nearby town, it does not have to be Madrid capital.
Now let's talk about the verbcome.
We focus on the point of origin of the movement and the place from which the speaker speaks.
Don't you know how to write "come" in the present indicative?
Theconjugation of the verb comein present indicative is irregular.
We remind you:
| Person | verb come |
|---|---|
|
I |
come |
|
You |
you come |
|
He/She/You |
comes |
|
We |
we come |
|
You |
you come |
|
They/Them/You |
they come |
When we talk aboutpoint of originof our movement, we use the verb come with the following structure.
We can use both the preposition"of"like the preposition"from".
Examples:
We can also express with the verb come a movement that the speaker makes whenplace where it is locatedright now.
Someexampleswith this structure they would be:
In both examples, the verb come is used becausethe speaker is in the placethat is mentioned.
Is the difference between the verbs go and come clear?
Surely now you understand these movement verbs better.
So let's go with the other couple:bring and carry.
In this case, it is exactly the same as before, only that we add atransportation of things.
Let's see them separately and you'll see how you understand it the first time 😉.
"Carry"It would be like the equivalent of "go", buttransporting something
The conjugation of the verb carry in the present indicative is like this:
| Person | Verb carry |
|---|---|
|
I |
he took |
|
You |
you carry |
|
He/She/You |
carry |
|
We |
we carry |
|
You |
you carry |
|
They/Them/You |
they carry |
With the verb carry, we talk abouttransport something to a destinationwhere we want to go.
The structure used is the following.
Someexampleswith this structure they would be:
Now it's the verb's turnbring.
The conjugation of the verb bring in the present indicative is as follows:
| Person | Verb bring |
|---|---|
|
I |
I bring |
|
You |
you bring |
|
He/She/You |
brings |
|
We |
we bring |
|
You |
you bring |
|
They/Them/You |
they bring |
Now that you know how to write the verb bring and its conjugation, let's see what it is for.
With the verb bring we indicate that something is transported to the place where speaker meets.
An example of this structure would be:
It means that "my house" is the place where I am when I say this phrase.
with him verb bring We can also mark the place where the object was before transporting it.
That is, the place of origin of that object.
We use the prepositions "de" and "from" for this use of the verb bring.
An example with this structure would be:
How are you? Do you understand better now the difference between carrying or bringing and going or coming?
Let's check it out!
We suggest that you do the following activity. There are sentences in which you have to choose the most appropriate verb.
Pay close attention to the temporal context and if there is a preposition, this will give you clues to choose the correct verb.
Has it gone well? For sure yes!
In Hispania, Spanish school We give a lot of importance to topics like this so that your Spanish sounds as natural as possible.
In ourface-to-face Spanish courses and online You will be able to achieve an excellent level of Spanish with the best teachers in the sector.
Have you made clear the use of go, come, carry and bring?
It wasn't that complicated, right?
Likewise, if you still have any questions, do not hesitate to ask in the comments.
May the day go well!
Article written by Carlos Martinez for Hispania, Spanish school.
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