In Japanese, ittekimasu 行ってきます, meaning literally "to go and come back," is an expression used to say goodbye by someone leaving home to go school, work, etc. Whoever remains home bids farewell saying itterasshai 行ってらっしゃい.
When the person returns, they say tadaima ただいま, and are greeted by okaeri おかえり.
Meaning
The phrase itte-kimasu 行ってきます is composed by two verbs:
- iku
行く
To go. - itte is the te-form of iku.
- kimasu
来ます
To come.
The non-polite variant would be:
- itte-kuru
行ってくる
To go and come back.
The phrase literary says what the person will do. If they'll leave for school, for example, they'll go to school, then they'll come back later: itte-kuru.
The phrase doesn't necessarily mean "to leave home and then come back." It means "to go somewhere, and then come back," so it can also be used by someone leaving other places, like a classroom.
- {chotto mi ni} itte kuru
ちょっと見に行ってくる
[I] will go {see for a bit}, then come back.
Someone bidding farewell with itterasshai is literally saying:
- itte-koi
行って来い
Go and come back.
This ~te-kuru ～てくる can be used in various other phrases related to going somewhere and coming back later.
- dekakeru
出かける
To leave home to go somewhere. - dekakete-kuru
出かけてくる
To leave home to go somewhere, and then come back. - kau
買う
To buy. - katte-kuru
買ってくる
To go buy something, then come back.
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