Go shopping means to go to the shops to buy things. You can use it for buying food as well as clothes or presents. To say what you are looking for, add for: go shopping for shoes.
Want to remember go shopping?
Write a sentence — we'll show the mistakes right away and suggest how to say it more naturally.
The check is taking longer than usual. Your feedback will appear here automatically.
go shopping (no to); go shopping for + clothes/presents; do the shopping; go to the shops
- Let's go shopping after lunch and find a birthday present for Mum.
- When I travel, I rarely go shopping; I prefer museums and long walks.
- We need to go shopping tonight because the fridge is almost empty.
What changed
First versionOn Saturday we went to shopping in the city centre.
RevisionOn Saturday we went shopping in the city centre.
Learners often add to out of habit, as in go to school or go to work. But shopping here is an activity, like swimming in go swimming or skiing in go skiing, and it takes no preposition. To was removed. If you want a phrase with to, use go to the shops.
Do the shopping means buying the usual things for the home, such as food and cleaning products. It is a household chore: I'll do the shopping after work. Go shopping is broader and often sounds like shopping for pleasure: Let's go shopping on Saturday.
Your turn
My sister loves fashion and could ___ shopping for clothes all day.
Show the answer
go — The sentence is about going round the shops for clothes, so you need go shopping. With do, people say do the shopping or do some shopping; do shopping without the or some sounds wrong.
Describe how you go shopping at weekends or when you travel. Say where you go and what you usually buy.
On Sundays I often go shopping at the local market and usually buy fresh fruit and cheese.
Learn to use new words without mistakes
Write phrases with the words you are learning. LetsWords shows mistakes in usage and grammar, suggests corrections and explains them, and review helps the words stick.