to

a

to(tu)

preposition

1. (used to indicate direction)

a. a

I'm going to your house.

Voy a tu casa.

b. hacia

She walked to the woods.

Caminó hacia el bosque.

2. (as far as)

a. hasta

I would run to your house right now just to see you!

¡Correría hasta tu casa ahora mismo solo para verte!

3. (in order to)

a. a

I just came to say hello.

Solo vine a saludar.

4. (used to indicate belonging)

a. de

All of those books belonged to my grandfather.

Todos estos libros eran de mi abuelo.

5. (used to tell the time)

a. menos

It is a quarter to six.

Son las seis menos cuarto.

6. (used to indicate proportion or range)

a. por

The birth ratio is 107 boys to 100 girls.

La proporción de nacimientos es de 107 niños por 100 niñas.

7. (in comparisons)

a. a

Variable A is greater or equal to variable B.

La variable A es mayor o igual a la variable B.

8. (resulting in)

a. para

To my surprise, he did not recognize me.

Para mi sorpresa, él no me reconoció.

9. (in toasts)

a. por

Here's to the birthday girl! Cheers!

¡Por la cumpleañera! ¡Salud!

10. (used to indicate position)

a. a

Turn to the left to exit.

Gira a la izquierda para salir.

11. (infinitive particle)

a.

no direct translation

I learned to drive when I was 17.

Aprendí a manejar a los 17 años.

We need to work faster.

Tenemos que trabajar más rápido.

12. (used in place of a verb)

a.

no direct translation

I didn't want to tell you but I felt I had to.

No quería decírtelo pero me vi obligada a hacerlo.

It's my party and I'll cry if I want to.

Es mi fiesta y lloraré si quiero.

to

preposition

1. (toward)

a. a

to go to Franceir a Francia

to go to church/to schoolir a misa/al colegio

to the fronthacia el frente

to the left/righta la izquierda/derecha

2. (until)

a. hasta

to this dayhasta el día de hoy

to count (up) to tencontar hasta diez

a year to the dayhoy hace exactamente un año

3. (expressing indirect object)

a. a

to give something to somebodydar algo a alguien

give it to medámelo

to speak to somebodyhablar con alguien

4. (with result)

a.

to my surprise/joypara mi sorpresa/alegría

to my horror, I discovered that…cuál no sería mi horror al descubrir que…

5. (expressing a proportion)

a. a

by six votes to fourpor seis votos a cuatro

there are 200 yen to the poundla libra está a 200 yenes

6. (with the infinitive)

a.

to goir

I have a lot to dotengo mucho que hacer

I have nothing to dono tengo nada que hacer

he came to help mevino a ayudarme

she's old enough to go to schoolya tiene edad para ir al colegio

it's too hot to drinkestá demasiado caliente para beberlo

I want him to knowquiero que lo sepa

7. (representing verb)

a.

I want toquiero hacerlo

you ought todeberías hacerlo

I was told tome dijeron que lo hiciera

Copyright © 2006 Harrap Publishers Limited

to [tʊ] [tuː] [tə]

When to is the second element in a phrasal verb, eg set to, heave to, look up the phrasal verb. When to is part of a set combination, eg nice to, to my mind, to all appearances, appeal to, look up the other word.

preposition

1 (destination) a

Note: [a] + [el] = [al]

it's 90 kilometres to Lima de aquí a Lima hay 90 kilómetros; hay 90 kilómetros a Lima; a letter to his wife una carta a su mujer; he fell to the floor cayó al suelo; to go to Paris/Spain ir a París/España; to go to Peru ir al Perú; to go to school/university ir al colegio/a la Universidad; to go to the doctor's ir al médico

which [church] do you go to?

I liked the exhibition, I went to it twice me gustó la exposición, fui a verla dos veces

let's go to [John's] we're going to my parents' for Christmas

we're going to John's/my parents' for Christmas vamos a casa de John/mis padres por Navidad

we're going to the cinema she's gone to the toilet he went to the door he came over to where I was standing to go to town to the United States/the West Indies to the Isle of Man/the Isle of Wight boats to and from Calais

have you ever been to India? ¿has estado alguna vez en la India?

flights to Heathrow vuelos a or con destino a Heathrow

the road to Edinburgh la carretera de Edimburgo

church

2 (towards) hacia

he walked slowly to the door caminó despacio hacia la puerta; he turned to me se giró hacia mí

don't stand with your back to us I stood with my back to the fire

move it to the left/right muévelo hacia la izquierda/derecha

3 (as far as) hasta

from here to London de aquí a or hasta Londres; I'll see you to the door te acompaño hasta la puerta

I was soaked to the [skin]

4 (up to) hasta

to count to ten contar hasta diez; it's accurate to (within) a millimetre es exacto hasta el milímetro; to some extent hasta cierto punto; en cierta medida; we are expecting 40 to 50 people esperamos entre 40 y 50 personas

to this day

to this day I still don't know what he meant aún hoy no sé lo que quiso decir

eight years ago to the day hoy hace exactamente ocho años

he didn't stay to the end no se quedó hasta el final

from Monday to Friday de lunes a viernes

from morning to night de la mañana a la noche; desde la mañana hasta la noche

funds to the value of ... fondos por valor de ...

decimal

correct to three [decimal places]

5 (located at) a

the door is to the left (of the window) la puerta está a la izquierda (de la ventana); the airport is to the west of the city el aeropuerto está al oeste de la ciudad

to the north rose the Himalayas

6 (against) contra

he stood with his back to the wall estaba con la espalda contra la pared; he clasped her to him la estrechó contra sí

at right angles to that

to turn a picture to the wall volver un cuadro mirando a la pared

7 (when telling time)

it's a quarter to three son las tres menos cuarto; es or falta un cuarto para las tres; (LAm) at eight minutes to ten a las diez menos ocho

8 (introducing indirect object) a

When translating to + pronoun, look up the pronoun.

to give sth to sb dar algo a algn; I gave it to my friend se lo di a mi amigo; the man I sold it to or (formal) to whom I sold it el hombre a quien se lo vendí; it belongs to me me pertenece (a mí); es mío; they were kind to me fueron amables conmigo; it's new to me es nuevo para mí; what is that to me? ¿y a mí qué me importa eso?; "that's strange," I said to myself —es raro —me dije para mis adentros

9 (in dedications, greetings)

greetings to all our friends! ¡saludos a todos los amigos!; welcome to you all! ¡bienvenidos todos!; "to P.R. Lilly" (in book) "para P.R. Lilly"; here's to you! ¡va por ti!; ¡por ti!; a monument to the fallen un monumento a los caídos; un monumento en honor a los caídos

10 (in ratios, proportions) por

there were three men to a cell había tres hombres por celda

The jail was crowded — in most cases it was three men to a cell

it does 30 miles to the gallon hace 30 millas por galón

how many kms does it do to the litre?

eight apples to the kilo ocho manzanas por kilo; there are about five pesos to the dollar son unos cinco pesos por dólar; a scale of 1 centimetre to 1 kilometre una escala de 1 centímetro por kilómetro; 200 people to the square mile 200 personas por milla cuadrada; the odds are 8 to 1 las probabilidades son de 8 a 1; the odds against it happening are a million to one las probabilidades de que eso ocurra son una entre un millón; by a majority of 12 to 10 por una mayoría de 12 a 10; they won by four goals to two ganaron por cuatro goles a dos

three to the fourth three to the power of four (Mat) tres a la cuarta potencia

11 (in comparisons) a

superior to the others superior a los demás; A is to B as C is to D A es a B como C es a D; that's nothing to what is to come eso no es nada en comparación con lo que está por venir

12 (about, concerning)

what do you say to that? ¿qué te parece (eso)?; what would you say to a beer? ¿te parece que tomemos una cerveza?

that's all there is to it you just fill in a form and that's all there is to it you're not going and that's all there is to it we'll have to sell the house, that's all there is to it

"to repairing pipes: ..." (on bill) "reparación de las cañerías: ..."

`to services rendered: ...'

13 (according to) según

to my way of thinking a mi modo de ver; según mi modo de pensar

to my way of thinking, it's a disgraceful way to treat people to all [appearances] he lay there, to all appearances unconscious To all appearances, they seemed enthralled by what he was saying to the [best] of my recollection to the best of your ability it was not to his [taste]

14 (to the accompaniment of)

we danced to the music of the band bailamos con la música de la orquesta; they came out to the strains of the national anthem salieron a los compases del himno nacional; it is sung to the tune of "Tipperary" se canta con la melodía de "Tipperary"

15 (of, for) de

the key to the front door la llave de la puerta principal

wife to Mr Milton

assistant to the manager asistente del gerente; he was a good father to the children fue un buen padre para sus hijos; it offers a solution to your problem te ofrece una solución para el problema; we've found the solution to the problem hemos encontrado solución al problema; the British ambassador to Moscow el embajador británico en Moscú; he has been a good friend to us ha sido un buen amigo para nosotros

16 (with gerund/noun)

to look forward to doing sth tener muchas ganas de hacer algo

I'm looking forward to meeting you looking forward to hearing from you ...

I'm really looking forward to the holidays estoy deseando que lleguen las vacaciones

to prefer painting to drawing preferir pintar a dibujar

to be used to (doing) sth estar acostumbrado a (hacer) algo

he wasn't [used] to driving on the right don't worry, I'm used to it to [prefer] sth to sth I prefer chemistry to maths

17 (in set expressions)

he was sentenced to [death]

to this end a or con este fin

to this end he proposed that ...

to my enormous shame I did nothing para gran vergüenza mía, no hice nada

to my great surprise con gran sorpresa por mi parte; para gran sorpresa mía

particle:infinitive

1 (infinitive)

to come venir; to sing cantar; to work trabajar

2 (following another verb)

A preposition may be required with the Spanish infinitive, depending on what precedes it: look up the verb.

she refused to listen se negó a escuchar

to start to cry empezar or ponerse a llorar

to try to do sth tratar de hacer algo; intentar hacer algo

to want to do sth querer hacer algo

I wouldn't want to upset her

(object as subject of following infinitive)

I'd advise you to think this over te aconsejaría que te pensaras bien esto

what would you advise me to do?

he'd like me to give up work le gustaría que dejase de trabajar

we'd prefer him to go to university preferiríamos que fuese a la universidad

I want you to do it quiero que lo hagas

they [want] us to move out

I have things to do tengo cosas que hacer; he has a lot to lose tiene mucho que perder

they have yet to be punished

there was no one for me to ask there wasn't anyone for me to ask no había nadie a quien yo pudiese preguntar

he is not to be trusted

he's not the sort or type to do that no es de los que hacen eso

that book is still to be written ese libro está todavía por escribir

now is the time to do it ahora es el momento de hacerlo

and who is he to criticize? ¿y quién es él para criticar?

there is much to be done

3 (purpose, result) para

he did it to help you lo hizo para ayudarte; I have done nothing to deserve this no he hecho nada para merecer esto; it disappeared, never to be seen again desapareció para siempre; I arrived to find she had gone cuando llegué me encontré con que se había ido; he came to see you vino a verte; he's gone to get the paper ha ido a por el periódico

4 (standing in for verb)

The particle [to] is not translated when it stands for the infinitive:

we didn't want to sell it but we had to no queríamos venderlo pero tuvimos que hacerlo or no hubo más remedio; "would you like to come to dinner?" — "I'd love to!" —¿te gustaría venir a cenar? —¡me encantaría!; you may not want to do it but you ought to for the sake of your education tal vez no quieres hacerlo pero deberías en aras de tu educación

you ought to you may not want to do it but you ought to for the sake of your education

I don't want to no quiero

I didn't mean to

I forgot to se me olvidó

5 (after adjective)

For combinations like [difficult]/[easy]/[foolish]/ [ready]/[slow to] etc, look up the adjective.

it is very expensive to live in London resulta muy caro vivir en Londres; it's hard to describe the feeling es difícil describir la sensación; these dogs are hard to control estos perros son difíciles de controlar

it's expensive to maintain you'd be foolish to try it is it good to eat? he tried the fruit of this strange tree and found it was good to eat pork is good to eat but a pig is not very discriminating in what it eats I find that hard to believe she was ready to go he's slow to learn

the first/last to go el primero/último en irse

who was the last to see her?

he's young to be a grandfather es joven para ser abuelo

it's too heavy to lift it's too hot to touch too old to play tennis he's a big boy to be still in short trousers

note See culture box in entry easy.

6 (in exclamations)

and then to be let down like that! ¡y para que luego te decepcionen así!

We were all so looking forward to the trip. And then to be let down like that!

and to think he didn't mean a word of it! ¡y pensar que nada de lo que dijo era de verdad!

I believed everything he said. And to think he didn't mean a word of it!

7

to see him now one would never think that ... al verlo or viéndolo ahora nadie creería que ...

adverb

to pull the door to tirar de la puerta para cerrarla; cerrar la puerta tirando; to push the door to empujar la puerta para cerrarla; cerrar la puerta empujando

to and fro