Spanish verbs: Difference between IR & VENIR – Episode 52

Spanish verbs: Difference between IR & VENIR

Podcast episode 52 – SEE ALL EPISODES

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

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Today I’m going to show the difference between Ir and Venir.

Today’s question comes from Karim, one of my Twitter followers. Karim contacted me with this question: “Could you do a lesson about when to use Ir and when to use Venir? It’s a very difficult topic for me”.

See also: Maria’s step-by-step Spanish courses.

In my experience as a Spanish teacher, even advanced students find it difficult to tell the difference between certain pairs of verbs like: ser – estar, saber – conocer, pedir – preguntar, llevar – traer, ver – mirar, oír – escuchar, and ir – venir.

Spanish Verbs Ir & Venir: intro

Today, I’m going to give you some useful tips on when to use Ir and Venir.

These two verbs mainly express motion.

Although their general meaning is to go (ir) and to come (venir), they often have other translations in English. And their use is also more flexible in English than in Spanish. That’s what makes it sometimes difficult to know whether to use one or the other.

To get them right, what you need to do is think of their Spanish meaning. Instead of thinking of their English translation. Let me show you.

Spanish Verbs Ir & Venir: meanings

Let’s see what these two verbs mean in Spanish:

Ir: Indicates moving from the person speaking to another location. In other words, moving from here to there.

For example, if you’re at home talking to a friend, you can say: Voy al trabajo en autobús – I go to work by bus.

In this case, you’re talking about moving AWAY from your current location. From here to there: I go to work by bus – Voy al trabajo en autobús.

Venir, on the other hand, indicates moving towards the person speaking. In other words, moving from there to here.

For example, imagine you’re at home talking to a friend. You could say: Vengo del trabajo a la siete – I come from work at seven.

In this case, you’re talking about moving TOWARDS your current location: I come from work at seven – Vengo del trabajo a la siete.

Spanish Verbs Ir & Venir: examples

So far, we’ve got these two examples:

To move from here to there: Voy al trabajo en autobús – I go to work by bus.

And to move from there to here: Vengo del trabajo a la siete – I come from work at seven.

Let’s see other examples.

¿De dónde vienes?, Where are you coming from?

¿Adónde vas?, Where are you going to?

¿A qué hora vienes?, What time are you coming?

Voy a las cuatro, I’m going at four.

Let’s hear these four examples again:

¿De dónde vienes?, Where are you coming from?

¿Adónde vas?, Where are you going to?

¿A qué hora vienes?, What time are you coming?

Voy a las cuatro, I’m going at four.

These are very straightforward sentences where IR translates as ‘to go’, and Venir as ‘to come’.

Spanish Verbs Ir & Venir: difference with English

But, in English, you can say:

‘When are you coming? We’re coming tomorrow’ – meaning you’re going to the place where the person you’re talking to is right now. ‘When are you coming? We’re coming tomorrow’.

In this case, ‘we’re coming tomorrow’ indicates moving from here to there.

In Spanish, that answer cannot be said with the verb Venir, which is the common translation of ‘To come’. Instead, you need to use IR, which is the verb that indicates moving from here to there.

So, this is how you say ‘When are you coming? We’re coming tomorrow’ in Spanish: ¿Cuándo venís? Vamos mañana.

Vamos, from the verb IR, indicates moving AWAY from the person speaking. Vamos mañana. Because we’re moving from here to there.

That’s why I said before that, to get Ir and Venir right, you need to think of the direction of movement, rather than translating those verbs from English.

If you’re moving from here to there, the correct verb is IR: vamos mañana, vamos mañana.

Spanish Verbs Ir & Venir: another example

Let’s see another example. In English, when someone’s knocking on the door, you could say:

I’m coming!

Like in the previous example, when you say ‘I’m coming’ you’re moving away from where you are and towards the door. You’re moving from here to there.

Therefore, you need to use the verb Ir.

So, this is how you say ‘I’m coming’ in Spanish: Ya voy.

Voy, from the verb IR, indicates that you’re moving AWAY from where you are. You’re moving from here to the door: Ya voy.

We’ll often come across these two verbs in future lessons. So you’ll have plenty of chances to get familiar with them.

Spanish Verbs Ir & Venir: recap

To recap, these is how you use Ir and Venir in Spanish:

Ir: Indicates moving FROM the person speaking to another location. Moving from here to there.

Venir: indicates moving TOWARDS the person speaking. Moving from there to here.

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