来 + verb to indicate future

Question

What does 来 mean in the following sentence? 今天我们来讨论一个问题 I tried to translate the sentence as follows: "Today we are going to talk about a topic/problem/question". Does 来 indicate future? Is there a difference to 要 (e.g. 今天我们要...)

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Dec 05 '19 at 19:36

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Yes, you are correct that "来" means 'we are going to' in this scenario. To be honest, as a native Chineses speaker, I cannot tell the difference between "来” and ”要" here.

answered Dec 05 '19 at 19:36

Molly.GG

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Tang Ho · Answer 2 · 2019-12-05T23:42:13.490

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来 means ‘come’.

今天我們討論一個問題 - we discuss a problem today
今天我們要討論一個問題 - we need to/ are going to discuss a problem today
今天我們來討論一個問題 - we come/ are going to discuss a problem today

edited Dec 05 '19 at 23:42

answered Dec 05 '19 at 23:16

Tang Ho

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dan · Accepted Answer · 2019-12-05T23:23:05.603

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来 in this context focuses on the purpose for us to come/ gather together, 要 just will. 要 connotes more of the necessity or even mandatory. 来 is more suggesting and less mandatory.

Note: Sometimes the nuance is weak in practice.

edited Dec 05 '19 at 23:23

answered Dec 05 '19 at 23:17

dan

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来 + verb to indicate future

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