Expressing "until" with "dao"

One of the cool features of Chinese is complements, and in this article we introduce a few of them.

One kind of complement in Chinese involves putting 到, 给 or 在 after the verb. These are used to indicate direction, target and location, respectively.

Complements with 到

到 (dào) indicates that the action has obtained a goal or a certain state.

Examples

• 我 昨天晚上 工作 到 十二 点 半。Wǒ zuótiān wǎnshang gōngzuò dào shí'èr diǎn bàn.I worked until 12:30 last night.
• 我们 一直 等 到 天黑 。 Wǒmen yīzhí děng dào tiānhēi. We waited until it was getting dark.
• 他们 想 在 这里 住 到 春天 。 Tāmen xiǎng zài zhèlǐ zhù dào chūntiān. They want to live here until it's spring.
• 你们 要 玩 到 什么 时候 ？ Nǐmen yào wán dào shénme shíhou? When will you be done playing?

Complements with 给

给 (gěi) indicates that you have passed something from one person to another.

Examples

• 我 今天 早上 发了 一 封 邮件 给 你。Wǒ jīntiān zǎoshang fā le yī fēng yóujiàn gěi nǐ.I sent an e-mail to you this morning.

Complements with 在

• 在 (zài) indicates a person or thing coming to a certain place. It is usually followed by a location or a place.

• 请 你 坐 在 我 旁 边儿。Qǐng nǐ zuò zài wǒ pángbiān er.Please come and sit next to me.

See also

• Verbs with gei
• "Zai" following verbs
• To go to a place
• Complement

Sources and further reading

Books

• New Practical Chinese Reader 2 (新实用汉语课本2) (pp. 240) →buy
• Chinese Grammar Without Tears (简明汉语语法学习手册) (p.93-95) →buy

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