Parts of Speech & Usage

Go home (no "to")

1 min read

In English, we usually say go to + place (go to the park, go to the office). However, some common place words do not use to. The most important one is home.

1. “Go home” (no “to”)

Home behaves like an adverb, not a normal noun in this structure, so we do not use “to”.

I’m tired. I’m going home.
She went home early.
Let’s go home.
❌ go to home

2. With “the” or a determiner → use “to”

If “home” becomes a noun (with the, my, his, etc.), then we use to.

I’m going to my home. (less common, more formal)
She returned to her home.

But in everyday English, we usually just say:

✔️ I’m going home.

3. Similar expressions (no “to”)

Some other common place expressions also drop “to”:

go home
come home
get home
arrive home

4. Compare with normal places

go to the office
go to school
go to the restaurant

Only special words like home drop “to”.

Key idea

Go home → no “to”.
Most other places → use “to”.

💡 Tip

Think of home as a destination without a preposition.
If you add “to”, it usually sounds unnatural.

Test your knowledge 📝

Question 1 sur 10Score: 0/10

I’m tired. I want to go ___.

Discover the app: Shaky English

Join 100,000 people who are improving their English skills on the Shaky English app

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Parts of Speech & Usage

Go home (no "to")

1 min read

In English, we usually say go to + place (go to the park, go to the office). However, some common place words do not use to. The most important one is home.

1. “Go home” (no “to”)

Home behaves like an adverb, not a normal noun in this structure, so we do not use “to”.

I’m tired. I’m going home.
She went home early.
Let’s go home.
❌ go to home

2. With “the” or a determiner → use “to”

If “home” becomes a noun (with the, my, his, etc.), then we use to.

I’m going to my home. (less common, more formal)
She returned to her home.

But in everyday English, we usually just say:

✔️ I’m going home.

3. Similar expressions (no “to”)

Some other common place expressions also drop “to”:

go home
come home
get home
arrive home

4. Compare with normal places

go to the office
go to school
go to the restaurant

Only special words like home drop “to”.

Key idea

Go home → no “to”.
Most other places → use “to”.

💡 Tip

Think of home as a destination without a preposition.
If you add “to”, it usually sounds unnatural.

Test your knowledge 📝

Question 1 sur 10Score: 0/10

I’m tired. I want to go ___.

Discover the app: Shaky English

Join 100,000 people who are improving their English skills on the Shaky English app

Other similar rules

Common confusions

Who vs. Whom

Common confusions

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Cue and queue sound the same, but they mean very different things. Mixing them up can change the entire meaning of a sentence. Cue Cue is usually a noun or a verb meaning: a signal or prompt to do...

Conjugation

Much vs. Many

A bit of theory

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Let’s make the difference between affect and effect easy to understand! Affect Affect is usually a verb. It means to influence or to make a change. Too much screen time can affect your sleep....

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