Tricky uses of "dao"

You probably learned the result complement 到 a long time ago, as part of words like 看到 ("to see") and 听到 ("to hear"). But other times it's less clear what the 到 really means. Like the difference between 买 and 买到 or 做 and 做到. What 到 adds is a clearer sense that something has really been achieved.

The difference 到 makes

Adding 到 after a verb makes it very clear that the desired result was achieved. If you looked and you saw, then 到 indicates that. On the other hand, not adding 到 makes it unclear whether or not the desired result was achieved. It kind of makes many verbs mean "try and V." So 做 without 到 is kind of like "try and do," but when you want to make it very clear that results were achieved or must be achieved, that's when you want to add 到.

Illustrative examples

做 vs. 做到

• 我还没有做。
• 我下个星期可以做。
• 我相信你一定能做到。

买 vs. 买到

• 我还没有买。
• 我没买到。
• 这里很难买到进口食品。

拿 vs. 拿到

• 他偷偷进了她的房间，拿到了他想要的东西。

想 vs. 想到

看到这张照片，我想到了我的女儿。

追 vs. 追到

如果你追到了她，我就请你喝酒。

了解 vs. 了解到

从他那里，我了解到了这个女人很多事。

联系 vs. 联系到

我们二十年没见面了，我不知道怎么联系到他。

HSK4