Have you ever wondered if you “go home” or “go to home”? Well, don’t worry, you’re not alone! The good news is, it’s actually quite simple. You just need to remember that “go home” is an exception.
You may go to school, go to work, or go to the hospital. But when you go home, you don’t “go to home”.
Go home or got to home?
When you use “home” in a sentence, it can either be used as an adverb of place or a noun.
If it’s used as an adverb, it means “in the direction of home” and usually follows a verb like “go” or “get.” So, when you are traveling in the direction of home it’s “go home.”
On the other hand, if “home” is used as a noun, it usually requires the use of a preposition, like “to” or “at.” We use “home” as a noun when referring to a specific place. For example, “I am going to the home of the president.”
Go home
“Go home” means to move in the direction of one’s home.
With “go home”, “home” functions as an adverb. Therefore, you don’t need to use a preposition.
An adverb is a word that modifies or describes a verb, adjective, or another adverb. In the context of the phrase “go home,” “home” is being used as an adverb of place. It describes the direction in which the action of going is taking place. An adverb of place typically indicates the location, direction, or time of an action, and in this case, “home” is providing information about the direction of the action.
For example:
“I need to go home early tonight.”
“Let’s go home, it’s been a long day.”
“The last day of traveling is on the 26th and we go home the following day.”
“I am going to go home once the match has finished.”
See, in these examples, “home” is an adverb, so we don’t need a preposition like “to.”
However, “home” can also function as a noun. In such cases, we can use a preposition like “to”.
Go to home
The phrase “go to home” is not commonly used in English, and is only used when “home” is being used as a noun, which refers to a specific place. However, to make it grammatically correct you also usually need to use the articles “a” or “the” and a preposition, such as “to,” to show the relationship between the noun and the rest of the sentence.
For example:
“I need to go to the home of my Uncle on Saturday to drop off a bottle of wine.”
“I need to go to the home of the president.”
In these sentences, “home” refers to a specific place, and the preposition “to” is needed to indicate that the speaker is going in the direction of that specific place.
On its own, “go to home” doesn’t make sense and isn’t grammatically correct.
What about arrive at home or arrive to home?
As for “arrive home” vs “arrive to home,” the answer is quite straightforward. “Arrive to home” is not a commonly used phrase and you’ll usually hear “arrive home” or “arrive at home.”
For example:
“I usually arrive home around 6 PM.”
“I arrived home late last night.”
Conclusion: Go home
There you have it, that’s the difference between “go Home,” and “go to home.” If you want to be grammatically correct use “go home” when you’re referring to returning to your home or house.
James has been helping people teach English abroad for over twelve years. He’s traveled to over 30 countries, lived in 3, and taught English in Chile and online.
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