Definition
To come; to move toward the speaker or a place being talked about.
Example
친구가 우리 집에 내일 와요.
Show translation
My friend is coming to our house tomorrow.
Etymology
Native Korean (고유어). 오다 has been in use since Old Korean and appears in the earliest written records of the language, including 15th-century Hunminjeongeum-era texts. It is the direct antonym of 가다 (to go) and forms countless compound verbs: 들어오다 (to come in), 나오다 (to come out), 돌아오다 (to come back).
Cultural note
In Korean, the choice between 오다 and 가다 is perspective-sensitive: 오다 implies movement toward the current location of the speaker or listener, while 가다 implies movement away. This mirrors how many East Asian languages conceptualize directional verbs. Notably, when someone calls and asks "Are you coming?", a Korean speaker at the destination would say 와요? (Are you coming here?), while the person traveling there would also say 가요 (I'm going there) — each anchored to their own position.