Going to do something with に行きます

What it means

This pattern joins a purpose to a verb of movement. Take the masu form of a verb, drop ます, and add に行きます. 食べます becomes 食べに行きます: go to eat, or go and eat.

The verb at the end does not have to be 行きます. 来ます (come) and 帰ります (go home) work too. 日本へ英語を教えに来ました is a sentence many of us could say about ourselves: I came to Japan to teach English.

With action nouns such as 買い物 (shopping) or 散歩 (a walk), you can put に straight after the noun: 買い物に行きます. Here is the point for the English class. Japanese puts the purpose before the verb of movement, and the place often comes first of all. English puts the movement first, then the place, then the purpose.

How to build it

Examples

• 昼ご飯を食べに行きます。 hirugohan o tabe ni ikimasu. I'm going to go and eat lunch.
• 図書館へ本を借りに行きました。 toshokan e hon o kari ni ikimashita. I went to the library to borrow a book.
• 日曜日、友達と買い物に行きます。 nichiyoubi, tomodachi to kaimono ni ikimasu. I'm going shopping with a friend on Sunday.
• コンビニへ飲み物を買いに行きます。 konbini e nomimono o kai ni ikimasu. I'm going to the convenience store to buy a drink.
• 日本へ英語を教えに来ました。 nihon e eigo o oshie ni kimashita. I came to Japan to teach English.

How English says it

English has three common ways to say this. "Go to the library to borrow a book" uses to + verb for the purpose. "Go and eat lunch" joins two verbs with and. "Go shopping" and "go swimming" use the -ing form with no preposition at all.

The order is the reverse of Japanese. English says the movement first, then the place, then the purpose: go, to the library, to borrow a book. Japanese builds up to the verb: library, book, borrow, go.

Why it can make English hard

• Japanese uses に after the purpose, and に also marks the place you go to. Many students try to put "for" or "to" in both spots and get "go to library for borrow".
• The purpose comes before 行きます in Japanese. Some learners keep that order in English, and the purpose ends up in the wrong place.
• 買い物に行きます looks like "go to shopping". You will often hear "I go to shopping" until students learn that go + -ing takes no "to".

Mistakes you will hear

• I went to library for borrow a book. → I went to the library to borrow a book. Purpose is to + verb, not "for" + verb. The library also needs "the".
• I go to shopping on Sunday. → I go shopping on Sunday. 買い物に行きます has に, so "to" slips in. Go + -ing has no preposition.
• I came to Japan for teaching English. → I came to Japan to teach English. "For + -ing" sounds like a reason or a use. For a person's purpose, use to + verb.

In the classroom

• Put places on the board: the library, the station, the convenience store. Students ask each other "Why did you go to the station?" and answer "To meet my friend." Short answers with to + verb build the habit fast.
• Keep two lists side by side: "go + -ing" (go shopping, go swimming, go fishing) and "go to + place". Ask students to sort new phrases into the right list.
• Give a Japanese sentence such as 公園へ犬と散歩に行きます. Students rebuild it in English, word by word, and see how the order flips.

Practice

Try each one, then open it to check.

1. 1. Fill the gap: 駅へ友達を迎え＿行きます。 (I'm going to the station to meet my friend.)

   Answer: に

   Verb stem + に + 行きます shows the purpose of going.

2. 2. Make the purpose form: 見ます + 行きます

   Answer: 見に行きます

   Drop ます from 見ます, then add に行きます.

3. 3. A student writes "I went to park for play soccer." Fix it.

   Answer: I went to the park to play soccer.

   Purpose is to + verb, and "park" needs "the" here.

4. 4. Translate: 映画を見に行きませんか。

   Answer: Would you like to go and see a film?

   見に行く is "go and see". ませんか is a polite invitation.

Related grammar

• 53 Intentions with つもりです Intend to; plan to ～つもりです ~tsumori desu
• 10 The particle に Marks a time, a goal or a place N に N ni
• 12 The particle へ Direction; toward N へ N e
• 33 The polite verb form ます Do; will do Verb ます verb masu

English grammar guides for your lesson

• Infinitive of purposeB1 The infinitive of purpose uses the 'to + verb' form to explain why someone performs an action. It is a concise way to express the reason or goal behind a specific behavior.
• Expressing purposeA2 Expressing purpose explains why someone does an action using 'to' followed by a verb or 'for' followed by a noun.
• Verb + -ingA2 Certain English verbs are followed by a second verb in the -ing form (the gerund) rather than an infinitive. This structure is common when discussing likes, dislikes, and the beginning or end of activities.