Why is it 出差去 and not 去出差?

Question

I read this sentence :

前几天爸妈出差去了。

which translates to :

A few days ago, my parents went on a business trip.

in English.

This might sound stupid but why is it “出差去” and not “去出差” when it’s “go on a business trip”? Or perhaps, both phrases are just the same?

Also, is there other cases where words are reversed like this? I have yet to know much about Chinese but what I mean is, when you look at the words order, it might be just fine (?) to translate it as “去出差” (go on a business trip) without having to reverse the words order into “出差去”.

Answer 1

adding some thoughts here as a native speaker:

1. You can say 前几天爸妈去出差了。There's no semantic difference to me in this case.

2. Under the hood, the syntax are different. In 去出差, 去 indeed means "to go", and the phrase's nothing more complicated than the literal translation you've mentioned: "go on a business trip". But in 出差去, it's the 出差 that's the verb. 去 following verbs, just adds the feeling of "already gone". For example, 他吃晚饭了 means he's had dinner, while 他吃晚饭去了 means he's left for dinner. 出差 business trip itself already carries the meaning of gone/left. Therefore in this case, it actually doesn't make a big difference with or without 去 in the end.

3. Just like "go" in English, 去 sometimes can be tricky in terms of pragmatics. In user3306356's example 咱们看电影去。 看电影去 has a more cheerful, friendly tone compared to 咱们去看电影。In fact, the 去 + verb sounds so decisive that I rarely hear people use it without adding a 吧 in the end to soften the tone, when proposing an idea in daily communication.

Answer 2

I am Chinese so I can explain it to you.

"出差“means go on a business trip and “去” also means go. It is duplicated so we usually say it "出差“ not "去出差“ since "出差" has the meaning of "去"

"出差去了“ this actually equals to "出差了" the "去" is a sometimes a habitual words in this sentence. I think the only meaning is the status is already go.but "去" can be omitted."出差去了“ and "出差了" have same meaning.

Answer 3

I'm loathe to disagree with user3306365 but, I'm not so sure 去 is simply "the verb 'to go'"

In German we have 2 words: her (say 'hair') and

hin (say hin to rhyme with in).

These combine with countless verbs to indicate direction:

her: direction from somewhere to the speaker = 来
hin: direction to somewhere from the speaker = 去

前几天爸妈出差去了。
Einige Tage gelegen gingen meine Eltern auf Geschäftsreise hin. (verb is: hingehen)
A few days ago, my parents went on a business trip. (English loses the 去）

I think, 去 before a verb in Chinese corresponds with the so-called 'to infinitive' and is also not 'go'.

Quite why the Chinese say 去出差 is a mystery to me, because 出差 already means "go away on a business trip".

Answer 4

This is not really a case of words being reversed, it has more to do with the grammatical functions of the word “to go.”

If you check out Pleco’s definition of 去 you’ll see it says:

4 [before and / or after a verb] go in order to; be going to (do sth. there)

and the give a really good example where 去 is moveable:

咱们去看电影。(= 咱们看电影去。= 咱们去看电影去。)
Zánmen qù kàn diànyǐng. (or) zánmen kàn diànyǐng qù. (or) zánmen qù kàn diànyǐng qù.
Let’s go to see a movie.

Answer 5

Well, you have received several answers from native speakers. But I'd like to add some contexts and hope that would help you understand it better.

A1: 你爸妈做什么去了？

B1: 我爸妈出差去了。

A2: 你爸妈上哪去了？

B2: 我爸妈去出差了。

A3: 你爸妈呢？

B3: 我爸妈出差了。

As you can see, all are correct. Which one would be put in practice? Most likely corresponding to the proceeding question. But I'm not stating that replying other options would be wrong. It's just the most likely answer we probably get.

Answer 6

as a native speaker, I think both ways are acceptable and commonly seen, and I feel no difference between them.

If I have to pick some difference, I'll say:

"去出差了" focuses on the verb "去", this expression highlights your "parent's" action.

• 我爸妈 去 出差了。

• My parents went on a business trip.

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"出差去了" focuses on the state of "出差", this expression highlights your "parent's" state.

• 我爸妈 出差 去了。

• My parents was on a business trip.

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btw, "Someone...去了" is rarely used on formal occasions.

hope it helps you

Answer 7

We have three entities in the expression "出差",that is, "家","差" and "外". "去出差" stresses "去出"+"差",here the speaker focuses on "business trip". "出差去" focuses on "not at home(家),or leaving home"