HSK 3.0 Level 2 · Places

过来 guòlái “to come over” in Chinese

Traditional 過來

What 过来 means

  1. to come over
  2. to manage
  3. to handle
  4. to be able to take care of

How to say 过来

  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale过guò4th tone, falling
  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale来lái2nd tone, rising

过来 in a sentence

  1. 过来帮我们。

    Guòlái bāng wǒmen.

    Come and help us.

    Sentence #1041662 from Tatoeba

  2. 一个男人过来问我怎么了。

    Yí ge nánrén guòlái wèn wǒ zěnme le.

    A man came over and asked me what was wrong.

    Sentence #1173062 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 一个朋友明天要过来。

    Yí ge péngyou míngtiān yào guòlái.

    A friend’s coming over tomorrow.

    Sentence #834309 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters · translation adapted

How 过来 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 过 (guò) with each of its parts in a different colour
过guòto cross
  • 寸inch · cùn
  • 辶walking form of 辵 · chuòMeaning part

辶 hints at the meaning (walking); 咼 () hints at the sound. Compare it with guò.

Memory aidWalking 辶 past: to pass, to cross. In the full form 過, 咼 (guō) gave the sound.

The character 来 (lái) with each of its parts in a different colour
来láito come
  • 未part of the character
  • 丷eight form of 八 · bā

Memory aidDrawn from a stalk of wheat. It was borrowed early on for “to come”.

How to write 过来

过 6 strokes · 来 7 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

过来 (guòlái) stroke order chart: each stroke of the characters in the order you write them
Stroke order chart for 过来 (guòlái). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 过来

Words with 过

过guò · to pass过年guònián · to celebrate the Chinese New Year难过nánguò · be grieved过去guòqù · in the past经过jīngguò · to pass过节guòjié · to celebrate a festival超过chāoguò · to surpass通过tōngguò · to pass through过程guòchéng · course of events不过búguò · but

Words with 来

来lái · to come出来chūlái · to come out回来huílai · to return进来jìnlái · to come in上来shànglái · to come up下来xiàlai · to come down后来hòulái · afterwards起来qǐlai · beginning or continuing an action带来dàilái · to bring (about)看来kànlái · it seems

More words: Places & Getting Around

出门chūmén · to go out出去chūqù · to go out打车dǎchē · to take a taxi (in town)公交车gōngjiāochē · public transport vehicle回来huílai · to return回去huíqu · to return进来jìnlái · to come in进去jìnqù · to go in

FAQs

过来 (guòlái) means “to come over” or “to manage”. It is an HSK 3.0 Level 2 word.
Say it guòlái: guò with a 4th tone, then lái with a 2nd tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
In Traditional characters, used in Taiwan and Hong Kong, 过来 is written 過來. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type guolai with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 过来 from the suggestions. Typing guolai into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
过来 is an HSK 3.0 Level 2 word in the official 2021 syllabus, and it is on our HSK 3.0 Band 2 word list. It is not on the older HSK 2.0 word lists.

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Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.