V + 过来 / 过去: coming round, passing out
【六39】补语 / complements
Tone colorsā tone 1á tone 2ǎ tone 3à tone 4a neutral
Figuratively, V + 过来 says you come back to the normal state (醒过来 "come to", 抢救过来 "be revived", 反应过来 "realise", 改过来 "correct oneself"), and V + 过去 says you slip out of it (晕过去 "faint", 昏过去, 睡过去 "drop off without meaning to"). Picture a movement: towards you with 来, away from you with 去.
Many of these verbs are set: 醒过来, 缓过来 (get your breath or your wits back), 反应过来 ("it clicks", you grasp what is going on). For losing consciousness it is always 晕过去 / 昏过去, never 晕过来.
In the negative potential form, V不过来 means "cannot manage it all": 忙不过来, 照顾不过来, 看不过来 (too many things to take in). Like the figurative uses of 起来, 下去 and 下来 you already know, it is a directional complement turned into a complement of state; here the idea is the passage between the normal and the abnormal state. Common in speech and in writing.
Examples
抢救了两个小时，病人终于醒过来了。
Qiǎngjiù le liǎng ge xiǎoshí, bìngrén zhōngyú xǐng guòlái le.After two hours of emergency treatment, the patient finally came to.
昨晚太累了，他一躺下就睡过去了。
Zuówǎn tài lèi le, tā yì tǎng xià jiù shuì guòqù le.He was so tired last night that he dropped off as soon as he lay down.
他在会议室里突然晕过去了，同事马上叫了救护车。
Tā zài huìyìshì li tūrán yūn guòqù le, tóngshì mǎshàng jiào le jiùhùchē.He suddenly fainted in the meeting room, and his colleagues called an ambulance at once.
他的话太突然了，我半天没反应过来。
Tā de huà tài tūrán le, wǒ bàntiān méi fǎnyìng guòlái.What he said was so sudden that it took me ages to take it in.
坏习惯不是一两天养成的，也很难一下子改过来。
Huài xíguàn bú shì yì liǎng tiān yǎngchéng de, yě hěn nán yíxiàzi gǎi guòlái.A bad habit isn't formed in a day or two, and it is hard to fix all at once.
最近客人太多，三个服务员根本忙不过来。
Zuìjìn kèrén tài duō, sān ge fúwùyuán gēnběn máng bu guòlái.There are so many customers lately that three waiters simply cannot cope.
Common mistakes
✗ 他晕过来了。 → ✓ 他晕过去了 ("to faint" is 晕过去; "to come to" is 醒过来).
✗ 我反应过去了。 → ✓ 我反应过来了 ("I've got it" is always 反应过来).
✗ 一个人忙不了过来 → ✓ 一个人忙不过来 (the potential 不 goes straight between the verb and 过来).