去 (qù) is one of the most fundamental movement verbs in Mandarin. Its character depicts a person departing - the top component suggests a person and the bottom suggests movement away. As a directional complement, 去 can follow other verbs to indicate movement away from the speaker, contrasting with 来 (lái), which indicates movement toward the speaker.

In everyday speech, 去 appears in countless fixed expressions and compound words. It pairs naturally with destinations (去学校, go to school; 去医院, go to hospital) and can serve as a complement after verbs of motion to specify direction. The verb is used in both formal and informal registers without variation.