# 私の家で泊まっていった



## Myuu

Hi everyone!

I have a question about いった in this sentence:
おととい、友達３人が私の家で一緒に勉強をするために泊まっていった。

My question is, why can't きた be used instead of いった?
I originally used きた but it was corrected to be いった. 
I generally understand the difference between ていく　and てくる and I've read a lot about them, but I guess I still don't understand them fully.

As I understand it, in sentences like 電話してくる, the act of calling is toward me, so basically it's saying that someone will call me. I would use きた in the above sentence for the same reason: the friends are staying at my place, so the action of staying is coming toward me. Is this the wrong way to think about it? (Well, it must be )


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## Wishfull

おととい、友達３人が私の家で一緒に勉強をするために泊まっていった。

泊まって、そして、行った。
私の家に*泊まって*、そして、友達3人の家に（帰って）*行った*。




おととい、私は友達3人と、彼の家で一緒に勉強をするために泊まってきた。

泊まって、そして、来た。
彼の家に*泊まって*、そして、私の家に（帰って）*来た*。


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## akimura

As Wishfull mentioned, the 泊まっていった structure is equal to stayed and went.  泊まってきた is stayed and came.

Meanwhile, 泊まりにきた is came to stay, whereas 泊まりにいった is went to stay.

Therefore, the following two sentences, one of which is yours, is describing the same incident with slight nuance.おととい、友達３人が私の家で一緒に勉強をするために泊まっていった。
The day before yesterday, three friends of mine, in order to study together at my house, stayed [at my house] and went [out of there]. 

おととい、友達３人が私の家で一緒に勉強をするために泊まりにきた。
The day before yesterday, three friends of mine, in order to study together at my house, came [to my house] to stay [there].​I hope this analysis helps to make things clearer...


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## Myuu

I see! So it was a matter of coming and going here...Thank you very much, Wishfull, akimura. I understand now. 

I suspect this follow-up question might be too complicated to answer, but is there a good way to tell if this いく and　くる after the te-form of verbs is about going and coming, or simply denoting direction towards or away from you?

For example, "ボールが落ちていった。" means that the ball fell away from you, right? It doesn't mean the ball fell and went. 
But "家で泊まっていった。" means that someone stayed at a person's house and went. 

In the end, is it a matter of guessing which one makes the most sense?


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## akimura

It may be useful to understand whether the action of a verb happens at a stationary position or the verb's subject moves as the action of the verb happens.

泊まっていく naturally seems to mean _stay and go_.  The verb 泊まる or _stay_ by its definition indicates the action of staying is taken at a stationary position.  食べていく, 飲んでいく, 見ていく and 洗っていく are among other examples with a similar nature.

落ちていく is most likely to mean either _fall away_.  The action or event of the verb 落ちる or fall/drop happens by the movement of the verb's subject.  If you are to describe the event between your dropping a ball at the top of the Tower of Pissa and the ball's hitting on to the ground, you will probably say, "ボールが落ちていった" meaning _the ball fell away_.  Other examples are 走っていく, 歩いていく, 飛んでいく and 泳いでいく.  Note, however, that the sense of _away_ is lost when the verb's subject is the first person _I_.  In this case, it simply means that the action of the verb takes place gradually.  "私は落ちていった" means _I fell down_, possibly from a high bridge down and down into the river far below.

The movement of the verb's subject seems to be very important, not the movement of the verb's object, even if you are using a transitive verb.  For example, "彼はボールを落としていった" means _He dropped a ball and he went _but *not* _He dropped a ball away from you_.

I wonder if I may be missing other important aspects.  But I still think that simply distinguishing whether the verb's subject is moving or staying, and whether the movement is described by the very verb, will help you a great deal in many cases.

One interesting case is where the subject of the verb is stationary but being transported.  You might want to take a look at this thread for further details.

Similarly to the case of transportaion, verbs with messaging nature seem to need exceptional attention if it's connected to くる.  





Myuu said:


> As I understand it, in sentences like 電話してくる, the act of calling is  toward me, so basically it's saying that someone will call me.



Your understanding is partially correct.  True, it could be the case that the subject of the verb _call_ doesn't come to you, but the message comes to you, which seems to be exceptional and probably unique to verbs with messaging nature.  However, it's an equal possibility that the verb's subject move.  For example, 彼は外で電話してくる means _He will call outside and then come back here inside_.  When you say, 電話していく, it doesn't deal with the movement of the message at all.  It only deals with the movement of the verb's subject, which is common with many verbs with non-messaging nature.  So 彼は電話していった means _He called (using the phone here) and he went (away)_.


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## Aoyama

> 泊まってきた is stayed and came.


rather, *came to stay* I would say ...


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## Wishfull

Aoyama said:


> rather, *came to stay* I would say ...




Hi. Aoyama, I'm afraid I don't agree with you on this issue.

Came to stay = 泊りに来た　　（now the speaker is on the house where he was going to lodge)

泊まって来た　＝　stayed (there)  and came (here) ( now the speaker is on the place which is different from his lodging place last night)

昨日私は、彼の家に泊まって来た。（今は自分の家に帰ってきた。）

"Stayed and came" may sound unnatural as English expression, but we use it for the literal translation of Japanese.
I would say "came to stay" and "stayed (there) and came (here)" are different things in Japanese.


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## akimura

Aoyama, I'm afraid Wishfull is right.  "came to stay (here)" means 泊まりにきた but *not* 泊まってきた.  泊まってきた means "stayed (somewhere) and then came (back here)."

Remember that one important definition of the particle *て* is *and (then)*. Another in <verb1>て<verb2>is that *verb2 is happening while simultaneously verb1 is happening*.  Analyzing 泊まってきた where verb1 is 泊まる and verb2 is くる, you can't imagine the coming happens while the staying is happening simultaneously unless someone is staying overnight on the train, plane, etc.  Meanwhile, the staying can happen before the coming, which is the main reason why 泊まってきた means _stayed （somewhere else) and (then) came (back here)_.


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## Aoyama

I follow both of you. But "stayed (somewhere) and then came (back here)" should (for me) then be :泊まってmodotteきた or 泊まってmodotta ... janai desuka ?


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## akimura

Now I believe you are getting it right, Aoyama.  As you said, 泊まってきた means 泊まって、その後戻ってきた, which is why 泊まってきた is _stayed and came_ but NOT _came to stay_.  If you really want to say _came to stay_ in Japanese, you should say, 泊ま*りに*きた but NOT 泊ま*って*きた.


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## Myuu

Thank you so much, akimura and Wishfull. I understand it all a lot better now!


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## akimura

I did a little bit of research and came up with five definitions of V-ていく.  I also invented sample sentences.  I hope this will help for your future reference.
*
V-ていく*

* 1. go by V-ing
*私は駅へ*歩いて行った*。
I *went* to the station *by walking*.​*2. V away
*その風船は*飛んでいった*。
The balloon *flew away*.​*3. V and go
*ジャックが私の家で*勉強していった*。
Jack *studied* at my house *and went*.​*4. go on V-ing
*物価が*上昇していった*。
Prices *went on rising*.​*5. V and go into non existence/go out of sight
*10年が*過ぎていった*。
Ten years *passed away*.

その船は海深く*沈んでいった*。
The ship *sank* deep into the sea.​


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## Underskin

akimura said:


> *5. V and go into non existence/go out of sight*
> 10年が*過ぎていった*。
> Ten years *passed away*.
> 
> その船は海深く*沈んでいった*。
> The ship *sank* deep into the sea.​


 
Just to know, couldn't "-te shimatta" also be used in this context?


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## Aoyama

"-te shimatta" would imply : "finally ended, were brought to an end, se sont finalement terminé(e)s".


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