IR - COME, TAKE - BRING Verbs that are confusing. Hispania, escuela de español

GO - COME, CARRY - BRING: verbs that lend themselves to confusion

Hello! 

Today we are going to immerse ourselves in the exciting world of some verbs that sometimes make us go round and round.

We talk about those tricky verbs go come y take/bring, which creates so much confusion for Spanish students.

These verbs put us to the test when it comes to communicating in Spanish, since sometimes their meanings are intertwined and the same prepositions are used.

But don't worry, because we are here to unravel 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!

 

Ir/venir: verbs that express movement

 

We start with the duo go and come.

Both are considered as movement verbs

You do not know what are the verbs of movement in spanish?

They are those that refer to actions that express a movement to a place. 

Other verbs of movement would be, for example, verb to arrive, go up, enter, go down, move, etc.

Normally they are also accompanied by prepositions of movement.

 

movement prepositions 

 

Some movement prepositions which are most used with verbs go and come are:

To, for, from and from.

Later we will see how to correctly use each verb with these prepositions.

 

Tricks to use go/come and take/bring well

 

In which situation is the verb "go" used, and in which situations "come"?

What is the difference between "take" and "bring"?

Right now you are going to clear up your doubts and you are finally going to solve this little mess that confuses you so much.

Let's see what are the tricks to correctly use go / come y take/bring.

 

Look at the place from where the speaker is speaking 

 

When using verbs come and go, it's important to have on mind the reference point from which the speaker speaks.

If the speaker is in the place you are talking about at that very moment, the verb is used venir

For example, if you are at home and you want to invite someone, you would say: 

  • ¿Viennese to my house?

On the other hand, if the speaker is in another place other than the one mentioned, the verb is used ir

For example, if you are at the office and after work you want to go to the beach, you would say:

  • After work voy to the beach.

 

Destination place 

 

When we refer to the place we want to go, we use the verb ir

when we use the verb «go + to + place » we are specifying the destination place what we want to get to. 

For example:

  • voy a the store. 

 

Direction where you want to go

 

When we want to express the direction in which we are going, we also use the verb ir

The preposition "to" It also works, although we have another preposition that specifically expresses direction or the course that is being taken. This preposition is "toward".

For example:

  • I am going to the beach. (Now, while I am speaking, I am, for example, at the bus stop).

 

Birthplace

 

When we refer to place we come fromwe use the verb venir.

This verb indicates movement from a specific place to the place where the speaker is.

To talk about the place of origin, the verb to come is used with the preposition "of" followed by the place of origin.

For example:

  • Come from the school. (Now, while I am speaking, I am at home, for example, not at school).

 

verb to go Hispania, escuela de español

 

Verb go

 

Now we are going to talk about the verbs to go and to come separately.

We start with the verb to go in Spanish.

 

express place of destination

 

El verb to go can indicate the destination place what we want to get to.

In case you don't remember, we review the present indicative of the verb to go:

Person/Subject Verb go

Yo

voy

You

vas

Él/Ella/Usted

va

Nosotros/Nosotras

vamos

Vosotros/Vosotras

vais

Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes

van

For this, we use the following structure.

 

Structure: Go + to + place of destination

 

With this formation we can express where we are going in Spanish.

For example:

  • Yo I go to the beach every afternoon.
  • You do not have you come to school this week. Because?

 

Mark the direction in which the movement is going

 

Another of the uses from the verb to go es mark the direction Where is the movement going?

For this, we change the preposition. We no longer use "a" but "to" o "toward".

 

Structure: Go + to/to + direction

 

With these prepositions we express the direction we take.

For example: 

  • I'm going to Madrid. I will reach my destination in an hour.

Normally, address and destination tend to 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 is not necessary that it be the capital Madrid.

 

verb to come Hispania, escuela de español

 

verb to come 

 

Now let's talk about the verb venir.

We focus on the point of origin of the movement and the place from where the speaker is speaking.

You do not know how do you spell "come"  in the present indicative?

La conjugation of the verb to come in present of indicative is irregular.

We remind you:

Person/Subject verb to come

Yo

vengo

You

you come

Él/Ella/Usted

is

Nosotros/Nosotras

we come

Vosotros/Vosotras

you come

Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes

they come

Mark the point of origin of movement

 

When we talk about point of origin of our movement, we use the verb to come with the following structure.

 

Structure: Come + from/from + point of origin

 

We can use both the preposition "of" like the preposition "from".

For example:

  • I come from my home. It took me an hour.
  • I come from the airport by subway.

 

Mark place from where the speaker is

 

We can also express with the verb to come a movement that the speaker makes to the place where you are right now.

 

Structure: Come + to + place where the speaker is

 

Some examples with this structure would be:

  • I come to the gym 3 days a week. (Now I'm in the gym)
  • you come to this park a lot, right? (Now he is in the park)

In both examples, the verb to come is used because the speaker is in the place that is mentioned.

 

Verbs to carry and to bring: Transport of things

 

Is the difference between the verbs to go and to come clear?

I'm sure you understand these better now. verbs of movements.

Let's go with the other couple: bring and take.

In this case, it is exactly the same as before, only that we add a movement to the transportation of things.

Let's see them separately and you'll see how you understand it the first time 😉.

 

Verb Carry. Hispania, escuela de español

 

verbs to carry

 

"Carry" would be like the equivalent of "go", but transporting something

La conjugation of the verb to carry in the present indicative it is like this:

Person/Subject verb to carry

Yo

I wear

You

you carry

Él/Ella/Usted

leads

Nosotros/Nosotras

we carry

Vosotros/Vosotras

you carry

Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes

They carry

Expresses the transport of something to a different destination

 

You’ll experience an explosion of colour and interactive activities whilst verb to carry, we talk about transport something to a destination where we want to go

The structure used is the following.

 

Structure: Take something + to + destination

 

Some examples with this structure would be:

  • Bring cash to the restaurant because in that place they do not accept card.
  • Thanks for inviting me. I I'll bring the drink to the party.

 

Verb Bring. Hispania, escuela de español

 

verb to bring

 

Now is the turn of the verb bring.

La conjugation of the verb to bring in present indicative is the following:

Person/Subject verb to bring

Yo

i bring

You

you bring

Él/Ella/Usted

brings

Nosotros/Nosotras

we bring

Vosotros/Vosotras

you bring

Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes

they bring

Now that you know how to write the verb bring and its conjugationLet's see what it's for.

 

Marks the transport of something to where the speaker is

 

With the verb bring we indicate that something is transported to the place where the speaker is found.

 

Structure: Bring something + to + place where the speaker is

 

An example of this structure would be:

  • I've brought a new decorative object a my house.

It means that "my house" is the place where I am when I say this sentence. 

 

Mark the place where the object was 

 

You’ll experience an explosion of colour and interactive activities whilst verb bring We can also mark the place where the object was before it was transported.

That is, the place of origin of that object.

 

Structure: Bring something + from/from + place where the object was

 

We use the prepositions "de" and "desde" for this use of the verb to bring.

An example with this structure would be:

  • I bring these cookies de the bakery in my neighborhood. They are very good!

 

Activities to choose between the four verbs

 

How are you? Do you understand better now the difference between take or bring and come or go

Let's check it out!

We suggest you do the following activity. There are sentences in which you have to choose the most suitable verb.

Pay close attention to the temporal context and if there is a preposition, this will give you clues to choose the correct verb.

Went well? For sure yes!

En Hispania, escuela de español We give a lot of importance to topics like this so that your Spanish sounds as natural as possible.

In our face-to-face Spanish courses y online You will be able to achieve an excellent level of Spanish with the best teachers in the sector.

Has the use of go, come, take and bring been clear to you?

It wasn't that complicated, was it?

Also, if you still have any questions, feel free to ask in the comments.

Have a good day!

 

Article written by Carlos Martínez for Hispania, escuela de español. 

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked with an *

More articles

Scroll to start