Verbs in Series: 'i go' and 'i kam'

01

Which Way the Action Points

go and kam are added after a verb to show whether the action moves away from the speaker or towards them. English usually has to change the verb itself - send becomes bring, take becomes fetch - where Tok Pisin simply attaches the direction.

• Kisim ol bek bilong yu i kam.

  Bring your bags over here.

• Inap yu kisim narapela i kam?

  Could you bring another one?

• Plis karim wanpela moa botol wain i kam.

  Please bring another bottle of wine.

• Plis raitim pas i kam.

  Please write a letter back.

• Inap yu salim dispela toksave gen i kam?

  Could you send that message again?

02

One Verb, Either Direction

Hold the first verb steady and change only the direction. kisim means to get or take hold of. What happens next depends entirely on which of the two follows it.

• Kisim ol bek bilong yu i kam.

  Bring your bags over here.

• Kisim man i go long dokta.

  Take the man to the doctor.

• Em save kisim em i go long ples balus long kar.

  She takes him to the airport by car.

03

Going in Order to Do Something

The two verbs can also come the other way round, with go or kam first. This says that someone moves and then does the thing - one continuous event, not two.

• Mi go baim ol kaikai.

  I'm going to buy the food.

• Mi laik go danis.

  I want to go dancing.

• Plis, kam kaikai sampela moa kek.

  Please come and eat some more cake.

04

Action That Keeps Going

Repeating the pair, i go i go, stops being about direction at all and becomes about duration. It says the action went on and on. This is one of the few places where Tok Pisin marks how long something lasted.

• Wokim i go i go olsem.

  Keep on doing it like that.

• Longpela stori i go i go.

  A long story that goes on and on.

• Em i go i go tasol.

  He just kept going.

Pair the two opposite directions instead, i go i kam, and the meaning is back and forth rather than onward.

• Win tu i mas i go i kam.

  The air too has to move back and forth.

• Pen i kam i go longpela taim.

  The pain came and went for a long time.

05

Becoming

Following an adjective rather than preceding one, i go stops describing movement and describes a change of state instead: the thing gradually gets that way. English does exactly this in "go cold" and "go quiet", which makes the pattern easy to recognise, though Tok Pisin applies it much more freely.

• Larim i go kol na strong.

  Let it go cold and hard.

• Dispela pen i go bikpela moa.

  The pain got worse and worse.

06

Letting Something Happen

larim, to let or allow, is built on the same frame: the person permitted comes first and their own action follows, again with no "to" between them.

• Olsem na ol i larim em i go.

  So they let him go.

• Plis, yu mas larim mi i go bek long papa bilong mi.

  Please, you must let me go back to my father.

07

With a Direction Word Following

go and kam combine readily with the words for up, down, in and out, and the whole group still trails the main verb.

• Ol man meri i kam daun bas.

  The people came down off the bus.

• Mi putim ol su go insait long kabot.

  I put the shoes into the cupboard.

08

The Marker Is Often Dropped

In this construction the predicate marker in front of go and kam is frequently left out, particularly in commands and in quick speech. Both versions are ordinary, and the meaning does not change.

• Kisim fon kam!

  Bring the phone here!