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 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!

Go/come: verbs that express movement

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.

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.

Tricks to use well go/come and take/bring

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.

Look at the place where the speaker is speaking from 

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: 

• ¿You come to my house?. 

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:

• after work I go to the beach

Destination location 

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:

• I go to the store. 

Direction where you want to go

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:

• I'm going towards the beach (Now, as I speak I am, for example, at the bus stop).

place of origin

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:

• I come fromthe school. (Now, as I speak I am at home, for example, not at school).

verb go

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

We start with theverb to go in Spanish.

Express destination

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.

Structure: Go + to + destination

With thisstructureWe can express where we are going in Spanish.

Examples:

• II go to the beachevery afternoon.
• you don'tyou have come to schoolthis week. Because?

Mark the direction where the movement is going

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".

Structure: Go + to/towards + direction

With these prepositions we express thedirection we take.

Example: 

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

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.

verb come 

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

Mark the point of origin of the movement

When we talk aboutpoint of originof our movement, we use the verb come with the following structure.

Structure: Come + from/from + point of origin

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

Examples:

• I come from my house. It took me an hour.
• I come from the airportby subway.

Marks place from where the speaker is

We can also express with the verb come a movement that the speaker makes whenplace where it is locatedright now.

Structure: Come + to + place where the speaker is

Someexampleswith this structure they would be:

• I come to the gym3 days a week. (I'm in the gym now)
• You come to this parka lot, right? (Now he is in the park)

In both examples, the verb come is used becausethe speaker is in the placethat is mentioned.

Verbs carry and bring: Transportation of things

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 😉.

Verbs carry

"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

Expresses the transportation of something to a different destination

With the verb carry, we talk abouttransport something to a destinationwhere we want to go.

The structure used is the following.

Structure: Bring something + to + destination

Someexampleswith this structure they would be:

• Take cash to the restaurantbecause they don't accept cards at that location.
• Thanks for inviting me. II'll bring the drink to the party.

Verb Bring

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.

Marks the transportation of something to where the speaker is

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

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

An example of this structure would be:

• I have brought a new decorative object to my house

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

Mark the place where the object was 

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.

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

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

An example with this structure would be:

• I bring these cookies of 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 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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