The verb ''go'' is an
irregular verb
A regular verb is any verb whose conjugation follows the typical pattern, or one of the typical patterns, of the language to which it belongs. A verb whose conjugation follows a different pattern is called an irregular verb. This is one instanc ...
in the
English language
English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the ...
(see
English irregular verbs
The English language has many irregular verbs, approaching 200 in normal use—and significantly more if prefixed forms are counted. In most cases, the irregularity concerns the past tense (also called '' preterite'') or the past participle.
T ...
). It has a wide range of uses; its basic meaning is "to move from one place to another". Apart from the
copular verb
In linguistics, a copula (plural: copulas or copulae; abbreviated ) is a word or phrase that links the subject of a sentence to a subject complement, such as the word ''is'' in the sentence "The sky is blue" or the phrase ''was not being'' i ...
''be'', the verb ''go'' is the only English verb to have a
suppletive In linguistics and etymology, suppletion is traditionally understood as the use of one word as the inflected form of another word when the two words are not cognate. For those learning a language, suppletive forms will be seen as "irregular" or even ...
past tense, namely ''went''.
Principal parts
![Soliloquies OE - ga (British Library Cotton MS Vitellius A XV, folio 5r)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/27/Soliloquies_OE_-_ga_%28British_Library_Cotton_MS_Vitellius_A_XV%2C_folio_5r%29.jpg)
The
principal parts
In language learning, the principal parts of a verb are those forms that a student must memorize in order to be able to conjugate the verb through all its forms. The concept originates in the humanist Latin schools, where students learned verbs ...
of ''go'' are ''go, went, gone''. In other respects, the modern English verb conjugates
regularly. The irregularity of the principal parts is due to their disparate origin in definitely two and possibly three distinct Indo-European roots.
Unlike every other English verb except ''be'', the
preterite (simple past tense) of ''go'' is not
etymologically
Etymology ()The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p. 633 "Etymology /ˌɛtɪˈmɒlədʒi/ the study of the class in words and the way their meanings have changed throughout time". is the study of the history of the form of words an ...
related to its
infinitive
Infinitive (abbreviated ) is a linguistics term for certain verb forms existing in many languages, most often used as non-finite verbs. As with many linguistic concepts, there is not a single definition applicable to all languages. The word is deri ...
. Instead, the preterite of ''go'', ''went'', descends from a variant of the preterite of ''wend'', the descendant of
Old English
Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th c ...
''wendan'' and
Middle English
Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English ...
''wenden''. Old English ''wendan'' (modern ''wend'') and ''gān'' (mod. ''go'') shared
semantic similarities. The similarities are evident in the
sentence "I'm wending my way home", which is equivalent to "I'm going home".
Etymology
''Go'' descends from
Middle English
Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English ...
''gon'', ''goon'', from
Old English
Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th c ...
''gān'', from
Proto-Germanic
Proto-Germanic (abbreviated PGmc; also called Common Germanic) is the reconstructed proto-language of the Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages.
Proto-Germanic eventually developed from pre-Proto-Germanic into three Germanic bran ...
*''gāną'', from
Proto-Indo-European
Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family. Its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-European languages. No direct record of Proto-Indo- ...
(PIE) *''ǵʰēh₁''- 'to go, leave'. Cognates in the
Germanic languages
The Germanic languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family spoken natively by a population of about 515 million people mainly in Europe, North America, Oceania and Southern Africa. The most widely spoken Germanic language, E ...
include
West Frisian ''gean'',
Dutch
Dutch commonly refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands
* Dutch people ()
* Dutch language ()
Dutch may also refer to:
Places
* Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States
* Pennsylvania Dutch Country
People E ...
''gaan'',
Low German ''gahn'',
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
** Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
''gehen'',
Danish
Danish may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark
People
* A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark
* Culture of Denmark
* Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...
,
Norwegian
Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to:
*Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe
* Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway
* Demographics of Norway
*The Norwegian language, including ...
,
Swedish
Swedish or ' may refer to:
Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically:
* Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland
** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
''gå'',
Crimean Gothic
Crimean Gothic was an East Germanic language spoken by the Crimean Goths in some isolated locations in Crimea until the late 18th century.
Attestation
The existence of a Germanic dialect in Crimea is noted in a number of sources from the 9th ce ...
''geen''.
Origin of ''ēode''
Old English
Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th c ...
did not use any variation of ''went'' for the general
preterite of ''go''; instead, the word ''ēode'' (variant ''ġeēode'') was used, which lingered on as the now obsolete ''yede'', ''yode'' and ''yead''.
Old English ''ēode'' 'he went' (plural ''ēodon'') is made up of a
defective
Defective may refer to::
*Defective matrix, in algebra
*Defective verb, in linguistics
*Defective, or ''haser'', in Hebrew orthography, a spelling variant that does not include mater lectionis
*Something presenting an anomaly, such as a product de ...
preterite base ''ēo''- and the weak dental suffix -''de'' common in most modern English past tense forms (cf. ''ache'' : ''ached''). The base ''ēo''- and its
Gothic
Gothic or Gothics may refer to:
People and languages
*Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes
**Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths
**Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...
counterpart ''iddja'' (pl. ''iddjedun'') show the following development:
*
PIE
A pie is a baked dish which is usually made of a pastry dough casing that contains a filling of various sweet or savoury ingredients. Sweet pies may be filled with fruit (as in an apple pie), nuts ( pecan pie), brown sugar ( sugar pie), swe ...
perfect singular *' (singular) → Proto-Germanic *''ijō-dē'' → *''eōdæ'' → ''ēode''
*
PIE
A pie is a baked dish which is usually made of a pastry dough casing that contains a filling of various sweet or savoury ingredients. Sweet pies may be filled with fruit (as in an apple pie), nuts ( pecan pie), brown sugar ( sugar pie), swe ...
perfect plural *' (plural) → *''jejj''- (
Holtzmann's law
Holtzmann's law is a Proto-Germanic sound law originally noted by Adolf Holtzmann in 1838. It is also known by its traditional German name ''Verschärfung'' (literally: "sharpening"). (A similar sound law which has affected modern Faroese, called ...
) → *''jijj-'' (
i-mutation
I-mutation (also known as umlaut, front mutation, i-umlaut, i/j-mutation or i/j-umlaut) is a type of sound change in which a back vowel is fronted or a front vowel is raised if the following syllable contains , or (a voiced palatal appro ...
) → Proto-Germanic *''ijjēdun''- → Gothic ''iddjēdun''.
Both forms are derived from the PIE root *' (late *') based on close matches with past tense forms of
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
''yā́ti'' 'he goes, travels' (cf.
imperfect
The imperfect ( abbreviated ) is a verb form that combines past tense (reference to a past time) and imperfective aspect (reference to a continuing or repeated event or state). It can have meanings similar to the English "was walking" or "used to ...
''áyāt'',
perfect ''yayáu'', and
aorist ''áyāsam''). The root is regarded as an iterative-intensive derivative of the more common *' 'to go' (present *'). One reflex of *' is
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
''īre'' 'to go' (present ''eō'' 'I go') which gave many English words such as amb''ition'', ex''it'', intro''it'', issue, preter''ite'', and so forth. It is also found in the
Slavic languages
The Slavic languages, also known as the Slavonic languages, are Indo-European languages spoken primarily by the Slavic peoples and their descendants. They are thought to descend from a proto-language called Proto-Slavic, spoken during the ...
as ''iti'' and similar forms.
Development of a new preterite
In Middle English, ''ēode'' evolved into ''ȝede'', ''yede'', and ''yode''. By the 15th century in southern
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
, ''wende'' (''wend'') had become synonymous with ''go'', but its infinitive and present tense forms had ceased to be in frequent use. This was also true of the various ''ēode''-derived preterites of ''go'', thus a variant preterite of ''wend'' absorbed the function. After ''went'' became established as the preterite of ''go'', ''wend'' took on a new preterite, ''wended''. In
Northern English and
Scots, ''yede'' was ''gaed'', regularly formed by suffixing ''-ed'' to a variant of ''go''. Due to the influence of the region, southern English forms constitute the standard language of England, and so ''went'' is the standard English preterite.
Spencer used ''yede'' to mean ''go'' with ''yode'' as its preterite form but as dialect.
Origin of ''went''
''Went'', the modern past tense of ''go'', was originally the preterite form of Middle English ''wenden'' 'to turn, direct; depart' (modern English ''wend''), from Old English ''wendan'' (past ''wende'', ''ġewend''), itself from Proto-Germanic *''wandijaną'' 'to turn' (
transitive). Cognates include West Frisian ''weine'', Dutch, Low German, German ''wenden'', Yiddish ''ווענדן'', Swedish ''vända'', Danish, Norwegian ''vende'', and Gothic ''wandjan''. The original forms of the ME past tense were ''wende'', ''wended'' (our modern form), and past participle ''wend'', but variant ''wente'' developed from about 1200. By ''ca''. 1500, ''wended'' had prevailed in the transitive senses, whereas ''wente'', restricted to intransitive senses, rivalled and replaced ''gos older past tense, ''yede''/''yode''.
Proto-Germanic *''wandijaną'' is a
causative derivative of *''windaną'' 'to wind, wrap', from which the modern English verb ''wind'' developed. Cognates include West Frisian ''wine'', Dutch, Low German, German ''winden'', Swedish ''vinda'', Danish and Norwegian ''vinde'', and Gothic -''windan'' (in ''biwindan'' 'to wind around, wrap'). PGmc *''windaną'' comes from Proto-Indo-European *' 'to wind, twist', which also gave
Umbrian
Umbrian is an extinct Italic language formerly spoken by the Umbri in the ancient Italian region of Umbria. Within the Italic languages it is closely related to the Oscan group and is therefore associated with it in the group of Osco-Umbrian ...
pre''uenda'' 'turn!' (imperative),
Tocharian A/B ''wänt''/''wänträ'' 'covers, envelops',
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
(
Hesychius) ''áthras'' 'wagon',
Armenian
Armenian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent
** Armenian Diaspora, Armenian communities across the ...
''gind'' 'ring', and
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
''vandhúra'' 'carriage framework'.
Summary of the main Proto-Indo-European roots
''Go'' is historically derived from at least three
Proto-Indo-European
Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family. Its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-European languages. No direct record of Proto-Indo- ...
roots: *''ǵʰēh₁'', the source of ''go'' and ''gone'' (← ME ''gon'', ''ygon'' ← OE ''ġegān''); *''h₁ei'', the source of ''ēode''; and *''u̯endʰ'', the source of ''went'' as well as ''wend'' and ''wind''. Only two roots are continually used in their modern English reflexes ''go''/''gone'' and ''went''.
Suppletion in other Germanic languages
The Dutch, Low German, German, and Scandinavian verbs
cognate to ''go'', e.g. Dutch ''gaan'', Low German ''gahn'', German ''gehen'', and Danish/Norwegian/Swedish ''gå'', also have suppletive past forms, namely the preterite ''ging'' of Dutch and German, ''güng'' of Low German, ''gick'' (from the same source) of Danish, Norwegian and Swedish, and the past participle ''gegangen'' of German. These forms are relics from earlier, more widespread words that meant 'to walk, go' and which survive sporadically in
Scots ''gang'',
East Frisian ''gunge'', and
Icelandic ''ganga''. Some obsolete cognates include
Middle Low German
Middle Low German or Middle Saxon (autonym: ''Sassisch'', i.e. " Saxon", Standard High German: ', Modern Dutch: ') is a developmental stage of Low German. It developed from the Old Saxon language in the Middle Ages and has been documented i ...
,
Middle High German
Middle High German (MHG; german: Mittelhochdeutsch (Mhd.)) is the term for the form of German spoken in the High Middle Ages. It is conventionally dated between 1050 and 1350, developing from Old High German and into Early New High German. Hig ...
''gangen'', early modern Swedish ''gånga'', and Gothic ''gaggan''. These are reflexes of Proto-Germanic *''ganganą'', from Proto-Indo-European *' 'to step', which also gave
Lithuanian ''žeñgti'' 'to stride', Greek ''kochōnē'' 'perineum',
Avestan ''zanga'' 'ankle', and Sanskrit ''jáṁhas'' 'step', ''jaṅghā'' 'shank'.
Therefore, the case of English ''go'' is not unique among the Germanic languages, and it would appear that most have in a like manner reproduced equivalent suppletive conjugations for their words for 'to go', suggesting a cyclical change patterned after the state of affairs in Proto-Germanic.
Phrasal forms
The verb may be combined with various prepositions to form
phrasal verb
In the traditional grammar of Modern English, a phrasal verb typically constitutes a single semantic unit composed of a verb followed by a particle (examples: ''turn down'', ''run into'' or ''sit up''), sometimes combined with a preposition (e ...
s such as "go around" and "go off".
The verb ''go'' is used to form the
''going to'' future, in sentences like "I'm going to finish my work today."
Perfect forms
In
perfect forms of the verb (''have gone'', ''had gone'', etc.) the past participle ''gone'' is often replaced by that of ''be'', namely ''been''. For example:
*He's been to the shops. (He went and came back)
*He's gone to the shops. (He's there now)
For details of this usage, see ''
have been
This article describes the uses of various verb forms in modern standard English language. This includes:
* Finite verb forms such as ''go'', ''goes'' and ''went''
* non-finite verb, Nonfinite forms such as ''(to) go'', ''going'' and ''gone''
* C ...
''.
Notes
{{reflist
Etymologies
English verbs