いってきます・いってらっしゃい

When to use it

The person leaving home says いってきます: 行って + 来ます, ‘I go and come back’. The person staying answers いってらっしゃい: 行って + いらっしゃい, ‘go and come back’ in honorific form. Both presuppose return, which makes them the mirror of ただいま・おかえり.

The pair also works at the office when someone steps out (会議に行ってきます / 銀行に行ってきます → いってらっしゃい) and for travellers. Formal: 行ってまいります. Children stretch it: いってきまーす.

Examples

• いってきます！（いってきます）— I’m off!
• いってらっしゃい。気をつけてね。（いってらっしゃい。き を つけて ね）— See you later. Take care.
• ちょっとコンビニに行ってきます。（ちょっと コンビニ に いって きます）— I’m just popping out to the convenience store.

Traps for Spanish, English and French speakers

• In Spanish, French and English both people say the same thing (‘hasta luego’, ‘à tout à l’heure’, ‘see you’). Japanese fixes the roles: the one leaving says いってきます, the one staying says いってらっしゃい. Learners answer いってきます with いってきます, which sounds like both of you are walking out.
• The small っ is the word. いってきます and いってらっしゃい each hold a pause; Spanish and French have no long consonants, so learners say いてきます, which is not a word. Hold it like the tt in Italian ‘tutto’.
• ‘Adiós’ and ‘goodbye’ pull learners toward さようなら at the front door. さようなら to your family in the morning suggests you are not coming back. Every daily exit from home is いってきます.
• French ‘bon voyage’ looks like the translation of いってらっしゃい, but いってらっしゃい also sends someone to the supermarket or to the toilet at the office. It is about coming back, not about distance.