Recognize 来 in everyday Japanese and connect its meanings, come and upcoming, with whole words in context.

The idea

Compare 来る（くる） and 来週（らいしゅう） in the table: a character can have different readings in different words. 来 has 7 strokes; follow their order in the linked KanjiVG diagram.

Patterns to compare
Japanese wordReadingMeaning
来るくるcome
来週らいしゅうnext week
来月らいげつnext month
来年らいねんnext year

Examples

  • 家族かぞくが来月らいげつ、日本にほんに来きます。My family is coming to Japan next month.
  • 来週らいしゅう、友達ともだちと映画えいがを見みます。I will watch a film with a friend next week.
  • お客きゃくさんがもう来きています。The guest has already arrived.
  • 先生せんせいは今日きょうは来きません。The teacher is not coming today.
  • 私わたしの友達ともだちは東京とうきょうから来きました。My friend came from Tokyo.
  • 来年らいねん、弟おとうとは大学だいがくに入はいります。My younger brother will enter university next year.

Read-aloud uses a synthetic Japanese voice available on your device. Voice quality and availability vary; it does not assess your pronunciation.

Watch out

来る has irregular forms: くる, きます and こない. 来週 uses らい. 来る usually describes movement toward the speaker or a relevant viewpoint; compare 行く, movement away from it.

Try it yourself

  1. Write the reading of 来る in hiragana.

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    くる

    来る is read くる; the complete word means come.

  2. Write the reading of 来週 in hiragana.

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    らいしゅう

    来週 is read らいしゅう; the complete word means next week.

  3. Fill in the missing kanji: ＿月（らいげつ）.

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    来

    来 completes 来月, read らいげつ; the complete word means next month.

Use it today

Cover the table and write 来 from memory. Read 来る and 来週 aloud, then make a sentence and check its meaning against the examples.