にいく (niiku) Meaning Japanese Grammar - To Go

The expression にいく (niiku) means to go, to go for the purpose of going.

にいく is used to express the purpose for going to a certain place, in particular the action one intends to do after having going there.

In this post we learn more about meaning of にいく, how it is formed, and when にいく is used through real example sentences.

How にいく is formed

The expression にいく is formed by:

• Particle に: indicates "destination", the "place" towards which one moves
• 行(い)く: Godan verb which means to go

にいく is applied to a verb conjugated in the conjunctive form 連(れん)用(よう)形(けい) (the same as the masu form):

Let's see an example of conjugation with the verb 釣(つ)る to fish:

The expression にいく can also be found in the kanji form に行(い)く.

How and when to use にいく

に行(い)く means going for the purpose of. This expression is used when someone goes to a place to perform a certain action, indicated before にいく.

In this example we find the verb 飲(の)む to drink, which when conjugated becomes 飲(の)み, and applied to the expression にいく:

The sentence indicates that the purpose of going (行(い)く) is to perform the action of drinking (飲(の)む).

にいく and にきた

An expression similar to にいく is に来(き)た. に来(き)た uses the verb 来(く)る to come instead of the verb 行(い)く to go.

に来(き)た is used when the action of going has already been done.

So when you are already in the place you went to for a specific purpose, then you use に来(き)た instead of に行(い)く.

Examples of にいく