Two small words that English never confuses but Dutch learners constantly do: bij and tot. They look unrelated, and they are — bij points at a place or a person ("at the doctor's," "at my place," "near the window"), while tot marks an endpoint in time or space ("until tomorrow," "up to the corner"). The reason they share a page is that both correspond to English "at"/"to"/"until" in ways that don't line up cleanly, and both have one famous trap each: bij (not op) for being at a business or a person, and tot versus tot en met for whether the endpoint is included.
Bij — at someone's place, at a business, near
The core of bij is proximity to a person or a reference point. When you are at a business defined by the person or trade who runs it — the doctor, the baker, the hairdresser — Dutch uses bij, not in or op. The logic: you are not "in" the doctor as a building, you are "with" the doctor as a person. This is the single most useful thing to internalise about bij.
| Dutch | English | Why bij |
|---|---|---|
| bij de dokter | at the doctor's | at the person/practice |
| bij de bakker | at the baker's | at the trade |
| bij de kapper | at the hairdresser's | at the trade |
| bij mij (thuis) | at my place | at a person's home |
| bij het raam | by the window | near a reference point |
| bij de ingang | by/at the entrance | near a landmark |
Ik kan vrijdag niet, dan moet ik bij de tandarts zijn.
I can't on Friday, I have to be at the dentist's then. 'bij de tandarts', not 'op'.
Kom je vanavond bij mij eten? Ik maak pasta.
Are you coming to eat at my place tonight? I'm making pasta. 'bij mij' = at my place.
Het tafeltje bij het raam is nog vrij.
The little table by the window is still free. 'bij het raam' = by the window.
Note the parallel to English "at the doctor's," where the apostrophe-s hides the word "place." Dutch makes the same move with bij: bij de dokter literally means "with/at the doctor." Compare bij mij thuis — bij mij gives the person, thuis adds "at home," and together they mean "at my place."
Werken bij — employed at a company
When you say where you are employed, the company takes bij: Ik werk bij Philips ("I work at Philips"). English "at" here matches bij, not op — even though being physically present at the office is op kantoor. Keep the two apart: bij = which employer; op = which physical workplace.
Ze werkt al tien jaar bij dezelfde bank.
She's worked at the same bank for ten years. 'werken bij' for the employer.
Hij werkt bij de gemeente, maar vandaag is hij niet op kantoor.
He works for the municipality, but today he's not at the office. 'bij' = employer, 'op kantoor' = the building.
Bij elkaar, erbij — together and "with it"
Bij also builds common fixed expressions. Bij elkaar means "together"/"added up"; erbij means "in addition / included with it," the er-fusion of bij (see the er pages).
We waren met z'n allen bij elkaar voor het kerstdiner.
We were all together for the Christmas dinner. 'bij elkaar' = together.
Een broodje kaas, en een koffie erbij graag.
A cheese roll, and a coffee with it please. 'erbij' = with it / on the side.
Tot — until, up to, as far as
Tot marks an endpoint — the moment something stops, or the limit a movement reaches. In time it is "until": tot morgen ("until tomorrow"), tot ziens (literally "until [we] see [each other]," i.e. "goodbye"). In space it is "as far as / up to": tot het einde van de straat ("to the end of the street").
| Dutch | English |
|---|---|
| tot morgen | until/see you tomorrow |
| tot straks | see you later (soon, same day) |
| tot ziens | goodbye (lit. "until [we] meet") |
| tot nu toe | up to now / so far |
| tot het einde | to/until the end |
De winkel is open tot zes uur, daarna is hij dicht.
The shop is open until six, after that it's closed. 'tot zes uur' = until six.
Bedankt voor vandaag, en tot morgen!
Thanks for today, and see you tomorrow! 'tot morgen' as a farewell.
Van... tot... — the from–to span
A range is framed with van... tot...: van negen tot vijf ("from nine to five"), van maandag tot vrijdag ("from Monday to Friday"). This is one of the most useful patterns in the language.
Ik werk van maandag tot vrijdag, in het weekend ben ik vrij.
I work from Monday to Friday, at the weekend I'm off. 'van... tot...' frames the span.
Tot vs tot en met — the inclusivity trap
Here is the trap. Plain tot often reads as up to but not including the endpoint, while tot en met (abbreviated t/m) is unambiguously up to and including. Van maandag tot vrijdag is normally understood as Monday through Thursday (stopping before Friday), whereas van maandag tot en met vrijdag explicitly includes Friday. For anything where the boundary matters — date ranges, deadlines, page numbers — Dutch writers reach for tot en met to remove the doubt.
De tentoonstelling loopt van 1 tot en met 30 juni.
The exhibition runs from 1 to 30 June inclusive. 'tot en met' includes the 30th.
Lees de bladzijden 10 tot en met 15 voor morgen.
Read pages 10 through 15 (inclusive) for tomorrow. 't/m' makes page 15 part of it.
Common Mistakes
❌ Ik moet morgen op de dokter.
Incorrect — being at the doctor's is 'bij de dokter', never 'op de dokter'.
✅ Ik moet morgen naar de dokter / bij de dokter zijn.
I have to go to / be at the doctor's tomorrow.
❌ Ze werkt op een ziekenhuis.
Incorrect — employed at an institution is 'bij'; 'in het ziekenhuis' is the building. 'Ze werkt in een ziekenhuis / bij een ziekenhuis.'
✅ Ze werkt in een ziekenhuis.
She works in a hospital.
❌ Kom je vanavond op mij eten?
Incorrect — at someone's home is 'bij mij', not 'op mij'.
✅ Kom je vanavond bij mij eten?
Are you coming to eat at my place tonight?
❌ De cursus loopt van 1 tot 30 juni, dus de 30e ook.
Incorrect — plain 'tot 30 juni' excludes the 30th; to include it use 'tot en met'.
✅ De cursus loopt van 1 tot en met 30 juni.
The course runs from 1 to 30 June inclusive.
❌ Tot ziens morgen!
Incorrect — 'tot ziens' is a complete farewell; for 'see you tomorrow' use 'tot morgen'.
✅ Tot morgen!
See you tomorrow!
Key Takeaways
- bij = at a person's place or a trade (bij de dokter, bij mij thuis), near a reference point (bij het raam), and the employer you work for (werken bij). The notorious error is op de dokter — always bij.
- bij elkaar = together; erbij = in addition / with it (the er-fusion of bij).
- tot = until / as far as an endpoint (tot morgen, tot ziens, van... tot...).
- tot en met (t/m) = up to and including. Use it whenever the last point of a range must be counted in; bare tot can exclude it.
Now practice Dutch
Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.
Start learning Dutch→Related Topics
- Dutch Prepositions: OverviewA1 — The big picture before the details: Dutch prepositions are largely idiomatic and almost never map one-to-one onto English, one Dutch preposition often covers several English ones (and vice versa), many verbs lock onto a fixed preposition (wachten op, denken aan), and a preposition plus er fuses into erop / eraan. Why word-for-word translation from English fails.
- In, Op, Aan — The Core Place PrepositionsA1 — The three workhorse location prepositions: in (inside an enclosed space), op (on a surface, and 'at' an institution — op school, op het werk, op straat), and aan (attached to or at the edge of — aan de muur, aan tafel, aan zee). Why op and aan refuse to map onto English 'on' and 'at', with full tables of the fixed location phrases you simply have to learn.
- Prepositions of Time: Om, Op, In, TijdensA2 — Dutch slices time across four main prepositions — om for clock times (om drie uur), op for days and dates (op maandag, op 5 mei), in for months, years, seasons and parts of the day (in mei, in 2025, in de zomer), and tijdens for events (tijdens de vergadering) — plus met for holidays and the genitive 's-forms (’s ochtends, ’s avonds). The biggest trap for English speakers is reaching for op or in with a clock time, where Dutch requires om.
- Voor and Na: Before and After (and Voor = For)A2 — Na means 'after' and is straightforward. Voor is the workhorse: it does triple duty as 'before' (time), 'for' (benefit/purpose) and 'in front of' (place) — three senses English keeps separate. Context and stress disambiguate them. This page sorts the three voor's, contrasts voor (before) with na (after), pairs voor (in front of) with achter (behind), and handles the fused form ervoor.
- Uit vs Van: Out Of vs FromB1 — Two ways to say 'from' that English collapses into one: uit (out of an enclosed space, and the country/town you originate from — Ik kom uit Nederland, uit de kast) versus van (away from a point, a surface, or a person — van het station, van de tafel, van mijn moeder). Why your nationality is uit but the place you just left is van, and why surfaces split the two.