Vietnamese tới profiles an endpoint that motion, time, a sequence, or a scale reaches. It can mean “arrive/reach” (tới sân bay), “up to/until” (tới cuối tuần), or “as far as/to the point of” (tới mức). In sắp tới and thời gian tới, the endpoint metaphor turns forward: a period is approaching from the future.
Tới overlaps heavily with đến, but neither word is simply English to. Both can mark arrival and limits; preference depends on region, register, collocation, and rhythm. This page focuses on productive tới frames. Giving, permission, and benefactive cho belong on the dedicated cho page.
The construction map
| Frame | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| subject + tới + place | reach, arrive at | tới sân bay |
| từ X tới Y | from X to Y | từ nhà tới trường |
| tới + time/limit | until, up to | tới thứ Sáu |
| tới lượt + person | someone’s turn arrives | tới lượt em |
| tới mức + clause | to such an extent that | mệt tới mức ngủ quên |
| time noun + tới / sắp tới | next, upcoming / in the period ahead | tuần tới, thời gian tới |
Reaching a destination
Tới + place states that the endpoint is reached or relevant. Like đến, it does not require separate equivalents of English at or in. Tới nơi means “arrive/reach the destination,” with the place understood.
Tới ga rồi thì nhắn cho tôi, tôi ra đón.
Message me when you reach the station, and I’ll come out to meet you.
Xe buýt này có tới Bến Thành không?
Does this bus go as far as Ben Thanh?
When the clause emphasizes travel rather than arrival, a motion predicate can precede it: đi tới, chạy tới, bước tới. Here tới supplies the goal or approach, while the first predicate supplies manner.
Nghe gọi tên, chị ấy bước tới quầy số ba.
When she heard her name, she walked up to counter number three.
Compare endpoint-focused đến on its reference page. In many everyday destination clauses, changing tới to đến preserves the basic event. That does not mean every fixed expression permits free substitution.
Ranges, deadlines, and scalar limits
In từ X tới Y, tới closes a range in space, time, or number. Without từ, it can mark an endpoint translated as “until” or “up to.”
Từ nhà tôi tới công ty chỉ khoảng ba cây số.
It’s only about three kilometers from my house to the office.
Tôi phải làm tới tám giờ tối mới xong.
I have to work until eight in the evening before I’ll be finished.
With tận, the endpoint is presented as notably distant or extreme: tới tận cuối làng “all the way to the end of the village.” With lên tới, a quantity rises to a high limit, common in reports and advertising. These elements contribute evaluation; tới alone simply identifies the boundary.
Cuối tuần, nhiệt độ có thể lên tới ba mươi tám độ.
At the weekend, the temperature may rise to as high as thirty-eight degrees.
Tới mức + clause/noun phrase extends the scale metaphor: a situation reaches a degree with a consequence. This is neutral in speech and writing. Tới nỗi also occurs, though đến nỗi is often the more familiar fixed combination in nationwide formal prose.
Cô ấy mệt tới mức ngủ quên trên xe buýt.
She was so tired that she fell asleep on the bus.
Turns and sequence boundaries
Tới lượt + person means that a sequence has reached that person’s turn. Tới phiên is similar and is common for shifts or scheduled turns. The person does not actively “reach” anything; the sequence reaches them.
Tới lượt bạn rồi, vào phòng khám đi.
It’s your turn now; go into the examination room.
Tối nay tới phiên tôi rửa bát.
Tonight it’s my turn to wash the dishes.
This construction illustrates why English glosses are unreliable. English uses possessive your turn and dummy it; Vietnamese uses an endpoint predicate plus the sequence noun lượt or phiên.
Future-facing tới
In tuần tới, tháng tới, and năm tới, postnominal tới means “next/upcoming.” Sắp tới means “in the near future/upcoming,” while thời gian tới is “the period ahead.” These are prospective boundary expressions: the time is approaching the speech moment.
Tuần tới tôi phải đi công tác ở Cần Thơ.
Next week I have to go on a business trip to Can Tho.
Trong thời gian tới, công ty sẽ tuyển thêm mười nhân viên.
In the period ahead, the company will hire ten more employees. (neutral/formal)
Do not confuse sắp tới with the event-aspect frame sắp + verb. Trời sắp mưa means “It is about to rain”; kế hoạch sắp tới means “the upcoming plan.” Their future orientation is related, but their syntax differs. See sắp and imminence.
Aspect, negation, and questions
Lexical tới remains unchanged. Đã tới presents an endpoint as reached, đang tới presents movement as underway toward it, sẽ tới predicts arrival, and chưa tới denies that the endpoint has yet been reached.
Hàng đã tới kho nhưng chưa được kiểm tra.
The goods have reached the warehouse but have not been inspected yet.
Tôi chưa tới nơi; chắc khoảng mười phút nữa.
I haven’t arrived yet; probably about ten more minutes.
Questions include tới đâu? “reach where/how far?”, tới khi nào? “until when?”, and có tới ... không?. Tới đâu rồi? can ask physical progress or progress on a task.
Bạn làm báo cáo tới đâu rồi?
How far have you got with the report?
A minimal five-way contrast
| Function | Vietnamese | Interpretation |
|---|---|---|
| affirmative | Xe tới bến lúc sáu giờ. | The bus reaches the station at six. |
| negative | Xe không tới bến này. | The bus does not come to this station. |
| question | Bạn tới lúc mấy giờ? | What time will you arrive? |
| aspect-marked | Khách đã tới rồi. | The guests have arrived. |
| idiomatic collocation | Tới lượt tôi. | It is my turn. |
A short exchange: endpoint and period ahead
— Cậu tới đâu rồi? — Mình sắp tới cầu. Khoảng mười phút nữa mình tới nơi. — Được, tuần tới nhớ đi sớm hơn nhé.
— How far along are you? — I’m almost at the bridge. I’ll arrive in about ten minutes. — Okay, remember to leave earlier next week.
The first question asks current progress. Sắp tới cầu places the bridge just ahead, tới nơi marks arrival, and tuần tới identifies the next week. The shared endpoint logic appears in three different frames.
Register and regional distribution
Both tới and đến are standard and understood nationwide. Tới is especially frequent in southern everyday speech; đến is often preferred in formal nationwide writing and is common everywhere. This is a tendency, not a rule that assigns one word exclusively to one region. Fixed expressions matter: tới lượt and sắp tới are completely ordinary beyond southern speech.
Khi nào tới nơi thì gọi cho má nhé.
Call Mom when you get there. (informal; especially common in southern speech)
Common Mistakes
1. Translating every English ‘to’ as tới. Infinitival to is not an endpoint marker.
❌ Tôi muốn tới học tiếng Việt.
Incorrect for ‘I want to learn Vietnamese’ — tới wrongly adds physical motion.
✅ Tôi muốn học tiếng Việt.
I want to learn Vietnamese.
2. Adding an English arrival preposition. The goal follows tới directly.
❌ Chúng tôi tới ở khách sạn lúc chín giờ.
Incorrect for arrival — ở makes the hotel a separate static location predicate.
✅ Chúng tôi tới khách sạn lúc chín giờ.
We arrived at the hotel at nine.
3. Confusing tuần tới with a verb phrase. Postnominal tới makes a future time expression; it does not assert that the week literally moves.
❌ Tôi sẽ tới tuần đi Huế.
Incorrect word order for ‘I will go to Hue next week.’
✅ Tuần tới tôi sẽ đi Huế.
Next week I will go to Hue.
4. Treating tới and đến as freely interchangeable in every collocation. Overlap in arrival clauses does not erase lexical preferences.
❌ Đến lượt tới tôi.
Incorrect blend of two endpoint frames.
✅ Tới lượt tôi rồi.
It’s my turn now.
Key Takeaways
- Tới marks a reached or approaching boundary in space, time, sequence, or degree.
- It overlaps with đến, with tới especially frequent in southern conversation, but fixed collocations must be learned individually.
- Tuần tới, sắp tới, and thời gian tới turn endpoint structure toward the future.
- Aspect markers precede an unchanged tới; the predicate does not conjugate.
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Start learning Vietnamese →Related Topics
- Đến: Arrive, Reach, and Extend ToA2 — Use đến for arrival and endpoints, purpose after arrival, ranges, limits, and result-oriented extensions.
- Lại: Return, Repeat, and CounterdirectionA2 — Distinguish lại as return toward a reference point, repetition after a predicate, retention, and responsive counteraction.
- Cho: Give, Let, and Benefactive MarkingA2 — Map cho as a giving predicate, recipient and beneficiary marker, permission frame, and causative element.
- Sẽ and Prospective or Predicted EventsA2 — Use sẽ to present an event as projected or predicted while recognizing that Vietnamese future reference is often unmarked.
- Sắp and ImminenceB1 — Use preverbal sắp to present an event as close to beginning or reaching its relevant boundary.