HSK 2 · Particles

到 dào “to” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 到 means

  1. to, arrive
  2. to reach
  3. to leave for
  4. to go to
  5. to (a place)
More meanings from CC-CEDICT
  • until (a time)
  • up to (a point)
  • (verb complement indicating arriving at a place or reaching a point)
  • considerate
  • thoughtful
  • thorough

How to say 到

  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale到dào4th tone, falling

到 in a sentence

  1. 我到家给你打电话。

    Wǒ dào jiā gěi nǐ dǎ diànhuà.

    I’ll call you when I get home.

    Sentence #8501492 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 下午请到我办公室来。

    Xiàwǔ qǐng dào wǒ bàngōngshì lái.

    Please come to my office in the afternoon.

    Sentence #1424271 from Tatoeba

  3. 我的生日就快到了。

    Wǒ de shēngrì jiù kuài dào le.

    My birthday is coming up soon.

    Sentence #884638 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 到 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 到 (dào) with each of its parts in a different colour
到dàoto reach; to arrive
  • 至arrive · zhìMeaning part
  • 刂knife form of 刀 · dāoSound part

至 hints at the meaning (arrive); 刂 (dāo) hints at the sound. Compare it with dào.

Memory aidArrive 至 gives the meaning; the knife 刂 (刀 dāo) gives the sound: to arrive.

How to write 到

到 8 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

到 (dào) stroke order chart: each stroke of the character in the order you write it
Stroke order chart for 到 (dào). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 到

Words with 到

迟到chídào · arrive late遇到yùdào · to meet想到xiǎngdào · to think of感到gǎndào · to feel见到jiàndào · to see做到zuòdào · to accomplish直到zhídào · until得到dédào · to get收到shōudào · to receive受到shòudào · to receive (praise

More words: Particles & Connectors

比bǐ · compared to得de · particle linking a verb to how it is done (e.g. 跑得快离lí · away from从cóng · from对duì · correct往wǎng · to go (in a direction)一下yíxià · (after a verb) briefly着zhe · particle for an ongoing action or state (-ing)

FAQs

到 (dào) means “to, arrive” or “to reach”. It is an HSK 2 word, so it is one of the words learners meet early.
Say it dào: dào with a 4th tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 到 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type dao with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 到 from the suggestions. Typing dao into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
到 is an HSK 2 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

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Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.