Come: Meaning, Real Usage and Pronunciation

Come – it is a verb that depicts motion towards an individual, place, or a situation, although there are many other extended meanings of the verb such as happening, arriving, becoming available, or reaching a particular state.

Part of speech:

Verb

Phonetic transcription (IPA):

/kʌm/

CEFR level:

А1

Word frequency:

How to Pronounce “Come”?

Audio (UK):

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Audio (US):

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Despite the fact that come ends with -ome, it should be pronounced /kʌm/ in which the vowel has the sound of u in “sun” or “luck”. The word is monosyllabic, hence no stress pattern to learn. Don’t pronounce it like “comb” or “home”.

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Tenses and Conjugation of Come

Since “come” is an irregular verb, it cannot have an -ed suffix added to make the past form. In addition, students tend to get confused with the Past Simple form and the Past Participle, thus remembering all four forms will help avoid errors.

Form	Word
Base Form	come
Past Simple	came
Past Participle	come
Gerund/Present Participle	coming

Examples in Different Tenses

Tense	Example
Present Simple	New opportunities come when you least expect them.
Present Continuous	More international customers are coming to the conference this afternoon.
Past Simple	She came to the meeting fully prepared.
Present Perfect	Several interesting proposals have come from our partners this year.
Future Simple	Your confirmation will come by email tomorrow morning.

Common Phrasal Verbs with “Come”

Many high-level discussions involve phrasal verbs formed using “come”. If these are learned as phrases, understanding what is being said will become much easier than simply learning the verb form.

Phrasal Verb	Meaning	Example
come across	find by chance	I came across an interesting article while researching the topic.
come back	return	She came back from Berlin with several new business contacts.
come in	enter	Please come in once the presentation has finished.
come out	be published or become known	His latest novel came out earlier this year.
come up	arise or be mentioned	An unexpected issue came up during the negotiation.
come over	visit someone’s home	Why don’t you come over for supper this weekend?
come along	accompany someone or make progress	You’re welcome to come along if you’re free.
come down with	become ill	He came down with the flu before his flight.

“Come”: Transitive vs. Intransitive

The difficulty associated with the verb “come” arises from the fact that it is mostly intransitive, meaning that it doesn’t take an object. The students tend to confuse the word with “bring”, hence creating faulty sentences.

Correct Pattern	Example
come + place	We came home later than expected.
come + preposition	She came into the office smiling.
come + adverb	The package finally came yesterday.

Common Mistakes and How to Fix Them

Since “come” is such a frequent word, learners are likely to commit the same mistakes time and again. Pay attention to the distinction between movement towards the speaker and movement away from the speaker.

Incorrect	Correct
I’ll come the documents tomorrow.	I’ll bring the documents tomorrow.
She has came already.	She has come already.
Come to here after work.	Come here after work.
He come to work every day.	He comes to work every day.
We came late because traffic was terrible yesterday.	We arrived late because traffic was terrible yesterday.

“Come”: Definition, Real-Life Examples & Usage