Chinese Grammar: Lesson: Expressing “from... to” with 从……到

Feeling lost? 从……到 is an ideal structure to ask your way around. Or do you have a question about how long something is going to last? 从……到…… works for that too!

从……到…… means "from … to" and works just like in English. It can be used for both times and places.

Using 从……到…… for places

Structure

Subject + 从 + place 1 + 到 + place 2 + phrase

Quite like the 离 structure, this structure can be followed by a distance, a duration, a question… It is a pretty straightforward structure, as you can see.

Examples

从我 家到超市 不 太 远。
My home isn't far from the supermarket.

从公司到饭店 要 走 十 分钟。
It’s a ten-minute walk from the office to the restaurant.

In a question:

请问，从火车站到公共汽车站 怎么 走？
Excuse me, how do you get to the bus station from the train station?

从你 家到那儿 要 多 长 时间？
How long does it take to go from your house to there?

The destination, if obvious in the sentence, can be omitted.

我从学校 回来 了。I’m back from school.

Using 从 …到 for time

Structure

Subject + 从 + time 1 + 到 + time 2 + phrase

As time words can indifferently go before or after the subject, the structure can also look like this:

从 + time 1 + 到 + time 2 + subject + phrase

Examples

从早上到现在 我 还 没 吃饭。
I haven't eaten a thing all day.

从二 零 零 八 年到现在，她 还 没 回 过 中国。
She hasn't returned to China since 2008.

别从早到晚 坐 着 看 电视。
Don't sit and watch TV all day.