私も行ってもいい？

Sentence Discussions Japanese
#1
English Translation

Can I come?

Why isn’t it 「来てもいい？」?

#2

@Pata

Japanese students learning English also get confused with the difference between “come” and “go” in English.

  • Japanese describes the difference between 来る and 行く from the action taker/guest’s point of view.

  • English describes the difference between come and go from the listener/host’s point of view.

私も行ってもいい？ in Japanese means I (as an action taker) go to a venue. We don’t care who the event organizer/host is and whether the organizer/host is the listener or not. 行く in Japanese merely describes the action taker will leave the current position and visit somewhere else. We don’t say 私も来てもいい？ in this context.

あなたも来ていいよ。in Japanese means you (as an action taker) approach to the speaker’s place.

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