Question regarding the boundaries of 行く

There is a pattern sentence in my textbook that says

うち「not sure what the kanji for this is」の子供たちは大学に行きたがります

My textbook translates this as "Our children want to go to college"
My question is, What are the boundaries of 行く?
Is this meant to mean "my children want to go [travel, for lack of better word] to the college" or "our children want to [someday] go to college.
Does this make sense?

Anyways, ありがとう！

学校に行く can mean to attend a school or college. My dictionary says that 学校(or obviously 大学) + へ行く means to travel there for some reason or other, but does not correspond to attend (for the purposes of study).

Another good movement word for schools is 通う （かよう）。 This means to commute, so use that if you want the commute to be your emphasis (i.e., そんなに遠くから学校に通うなんて信じられない）.

Okay, so "iku" can mean to attend a school or college?



The "e" particle definitely communicates to go there for some reason, but not to attend.

Does iku have any more different meaning rather than "go" or "attend"?

Thanks Charles-san!

行く and 来る can be confusing in that they do not correspond exactly to the English go and come, hence 行く, in some situations, would best be translated as come. Most beginner texts will explain when to use 行く and when to use 来る, so try to pay attention to those rules instead of thinking come and go.

I personally am awful at doing that.


Oh yes, and it is a bit of a more advanced grammar point, but a verb in the てform followed by 行く can mean two different things.

1. 掃除をしていく。 To go somewhere after cleaning. When the verb in the て form is a momentary action, て行く means to do the て verb, then go. This is probably the more common usage.

2. 子供のために生きていきたい。 Here the sentence does not, obviously, mean I want to live for my kids and then go, as that makes no sentence. In situations like this, いく is expressing the fact that the verb that procedes it is something that will continue to happen into the future. So, here, the sentence means '(From now on) I want to live for my children.

On a side note, くる can be attached to て form verbs and does similar work. It indicates that something has become more and more something. For example, 寒くなってきた means it has been getting darker and darker, or, more simply, its getting dark.

Both indicate change, but the change is moving in opposite directions.

Yeah, My textbook uses pattern sentences alot for drilling different uses in, but it also explains the differences... most of the time

Charles Barkley said:

学校に行く can mean to attend a school or college. My dictionary says that 学校(or obviously 大学) + へ行く means to travel there for some reason or other, but does not correspond to attend (for the purposes of study).

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I don't know what dictionary you're using but AFAIK 学校に行く 学校へ行く and variations thereof are both common to indicate the use "go to college" meaning study and attend. The place where idiomatic English meets idiomatic Japanese....

大学へ通っています。also to attend school.

I'm also interested with word 行く. From what I learn, 行く can be attached with other activity, for example 食事に行く (out to lunch), 買い物に行く (shopping), etc. I think the boundary of 行く is too wide. Almost any activity related with movement (go out) can be attached with 行く.

Btw I have a question which is a little out of topic. I often hear 行く being read as ゆく instead of いく. I read it in song lyric. Is it common to say ゆく in daily conversation?
When is the right time to say ゆく ?

Thanks Elizabeth!
So even with "e" it can mean to attend?

Btw I have a question which is a little out of topic. I often hear 行く being read as ゆく instead of いく. I read it in song lyric. Is it common to say ゆく in daily conversation?
When is the right time to say ゆく ?

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In my textbook it says that "yuku" is used more west of Nagoya but doesnt say much else. I believe they are the same. I do not know how common ゆく is used though.

ゆく is slightly more old fashioned, can have a more literary or poetic feel, etc. It is used far far less frequently than いく, so at this point assume any 行く you see is pronounced いく。

See previous thread on the iku, yuku problem. Take advantage of your chance at the ticket counter or to a reservation agent. That's really the only place you'll be able to use it today.

その新幹線は東京行きです。
This is the Tokyo bound shinkansen.

東京行きはどちらの東急ですか。

Which is the Tokyo tokkyu ?

https://jref.com/showthread.php?t=21085　　

I was in a kabuki performance a month ago and used ゆく. So if you somehow get yourself cast in a kabuki performance, maybe you can use it.

Ironically, the first time I learned it was when I was up in Sapporo doing a short home stay. My home stay parents were in their mid 30s--woman was a graphic designer, man was a concert organizer/guitar player. For many many reasons, they were not your typical home stay parents--the guy would still be playing guitar with his band after I had
gone to bed.

Anyway, he would just about always use ゆく. Cool, young, rock guy. Language on the individual level is such an unpredictable thing...

You will hear ゆき a good deal in the situations mentioned above. ゆけ！ (imperative, command) not unoccasionally courtesy of video games, anime, pop songs etc.


Other forms of the verb, that would be Charles' friend or never. ゆった、ゆって don't even exist as valid conjugations.