dào
to
The Chinese word '到' is used similarly to the English preposition 'to'. It is often used to express the destination of a movement or change. Just like in English, '到' is used in various complex grammatical structures.
wǒ dào jiā le
I have arrived home
This is a simple sentence showing the use of '到' to express that the speaker has arrived at a specific location, in this case, home.
wǒ dào zhàn le
I have arrived at the station
This phrase uses '到' to express reaching the destination, in this case a station.
tāmen dào běijīng qù le
They have gone to Beijing
This sentence uses '到' to indicate the movement of people from one place (unspecified here) to Beijing.
huǒchē dào le
The train has arrived
In this sentence, '到' is used to express the arrival of the train.
wǒ dào xuéxiào qù
I go to school
This sentence uses '到' to express the speaker's movement towards school.
nǐ dào jǐ diǎn gōngzuò
Until what time do you work?
This sentence uses '到' to indicate a period up till a certain time.
wǒmen dào hǎibiān qù
We go to the seaside
In this sentence, '到' is used to express movement towards a destination, in this case, the seaside.
nǐ dào jiāwù shì zuò
You do house chores
The phrase uses '到' to indicate the duty or responsibility of the person, in this case, doing household chores.
tā dào jīchǎng jiē wǒ
He came to the airport to pick me up
This sentence uses '到' to express the specific action of going to a place, in this case, the airport to pick up the speaker.