Learn Hardcore Chinese: Tā měitiān cóng sùshè zǒu dào jiàoxuélóu zhǐ yào wǔ fēnzhōng. - Every day she walks from the dorm to the classroom building; it only takes five minutes.

So in Chinese it’s literally ordered as:
She / every day / from the dorm / walk-to the teaching-building / only-need five minutes.
That’s normal and natural word order in Mandarin.

How does the 从…到… structure work here?

从…到… is a very common pattern meaning “from … to …”:

从宿舍到教学楼 – from the dorm to the classroom building

In this sentence, it’s split by the verb 走:

从宿舍走到教学楼 – walk from the dorm to the classroom building

You can think of it as:

从 A 走到 B – walk from A to B
从 A 开车到 B – drive from A to B
从 A 飞到 B – fly from A to B

从 marks the starting point, 到 marks the end point.

Why is it 走到 and not just 走 or 去?

走 by itself just means “to walk” (the action), without necessarily saying where you end up.
到 after a verb is a result complement meaning “reach / arrive at” a place.
So 走到教学楼 literally means “walk-and-reach the classroom building” → walk to the classroom building.

Compare:

她每天走。 – She walks every day. (no destination)
她每天去教学楼。 – She goes to the classroom building every day. (way of going unclear)
她每天走到教学楼。 – She walks (and arrives) at the classroom building every day.

Here, 走到 emphasizes walking until she arrives at the building.

What exactly does 每天 modify? Could I put it somewhere else?

每天 (every day) is a time word describing how often the whole action happens.

In this sentence, it naturally goes right after the subject:

她每天从宿舍走到教学楼只要五分钟。

Standard options for time words in Chinese:

Subject + Time + … – very common and neutral.
Time + Subject + … – also okay, slightly more emphasis on the time.

So you could also say:

每天她从宿舍走到教学楼只要五分钟。 – Every day, she… (emphasis on “every day”)

But you would not usually put 每天 between 从 and 宿舍:

✗ 她从每天宿舍走到教学楼… (unnatural)

Time words usually come before place phrases like 从宿舍.

I thought 要 meant “to want”. Why does 只要 here mean “only takes (time)”?

要 has several common meanings; two important ones are:

要 = want / intend
- 我要咖啡。– I want coffee.
要 = need / take (time, money, effort)
- 从这里到机场要四十分钟。– It takes 40 minutes from here to the airport.

In your sentence, 要 is in sense (2): “to need, to take (time)”.

要五分钟 – takes five minutes / needs five minutes

只 is an adverb meaning “only, just”.
So:

只要五分钟 literally = only need five minutes → it only takes five minutes.

This 只 + 要 combination is very common in time/money expressions.

Is this 只要 the same as in the pattern “只要……就……” (“as long as…”)? I’m confused.

They look the same on the surface but are actually two different uses:

只 + 要 (need) – in your sentence
- 只要五分钟 – only need five minutes / only takes five minutes
  Here 只 = “only”, 要 = “need, take (time)”.
只要……就…… – conditional pattern: “as long as … then …”
- 只要你来，我就高兴。 – As long as you come, I’ll be happy.

In your sentence there is no 就 and no condition; it’s not the “as long as” pattern.
It’s simply 只(only) + 要(need) describing time needed.

Could I say 只用五分钟 instead of 只要五分钟? What’s the difference between 用 and 要 here?

Yes, you can say:

她每天从宿舍走到教学楼只用五分钟。

Both are natural, but there’s a nuance:

要 (need, take) – very common and neutral for time:
- 从这儿到那儿要十分钟。– It takes 10 minutes.
用 (use, take) – also used for time, slightly more literal “use up that much time”:
- 从这儿到那儿用十分钟。– (You) use/spend 10 minutes to get there.

With 只要 and 只用, both mean “only takes” here.
Native speakers probably use 要 more often in this exact kind of sentence, but 用 is fine.

Why is there no 了 in this sentence? Shouldn’t we mark completion?

No 了 is needed because 每天 already shows that this is a habitual, repeated action, not a one‑time completed event.

她每天从宿舍走到教学楼只要五分钟。
→ Describes her routine; it’s a general fact, like “It takes her five minutes (as a rule).”

If you talk about a specific, completed instance, you’re more likely to use 了:

刚才她从宿舍走到教学楼只用了五分钟。
Just now it only took her five minutes to walk from the dorm to the classroom building.

So:

Habit/routine → usually no 了.
One specific completed event → often 了 appears (on the verb and/or at the end).

What’s the difference between 五分 and 五分钟? Why do we need 钟?

分钟 is the normal measure word for minutes (of time):
- 五分钟 – five minutes.
分 by itself can mean:
- minutes (on a clock): 现在三点十分。 – 3:10.
- points/marks (scores): 他得了90分。 – He got 90 points.

When you state a duration (“for 5 minutes”), you almost always say:

五分钟, not just 五分, in modern spoken Mandarin.

So here, 五分钟 is the standard and natural way to say “five minutes (duration)”.

What exactly is 教学楼? Is it just “school”?

教学楼 literally means “teaching building”:

教 – teach
学 – study/learning
楼 – multi‑storey building

So 教学楼 is:

the classroom building / academic building,
where teaching and classes physically take place.

It is not the whole school (学校). A campus may have several 教学楼, plus dorms (宿舍楼), offices, library, etc.

Can I drop some words like the subject or 从? For example, could I just say 每天走到教学楼只要五分钟?

In context, you can often drop the subject if it’s obvious:

If people are already talking about her, you could say:
每天从宿舍走到教学楼只要五分钟。
→ Every day, (she) only takes five minutes to walk from the dorm to the classroom building.

But you generally shouldn’t drop 从 here:

从宿舍走到教学楼 clearly marks start and end.
If you say only 每天走到教学楼只要五分钟, it sounds like:
- “Every day (someone) walks to the classroom building; it only takes five minutes.”
- It doesn’t say from where; native speakers will guess it’s from home/dorm, but it’s less clear.

So:

Dropping 她: okay in context.
Dropping 从宿舍 or 从: possible but removes important information.

Could I use 离 instead of 从…到… to express the distance/time between the dorm and the classroom building?

Yes, but the structure changes and the focus is slightly different.

Your original sentence focuses on the action:

她每天从宿舍走到教学楼只要五分钟。
→ She walks from the dorm to the classroom building; it only takes 5 minutes.

Using 离, you focus more on the distance/relationship between two places:

宿舍离教学楼很近，走路只要五分钟。
The dorm is very close to the classroom building; walking only takes five minutes.

Differences:

从…到… – describes going/moving from A to B.
A 离 B + adj / number – describes how far/close A and B are, or how long it takes, often with another phrase:
- 宿舍离教学楼走路只要五分钟。
  (short for: 从宿舍到教学楼走路只要五分钟。)

Both are correct; you just highlight different things.

Why is it just 走, not 走路? Can I say 走路到教学楼?

Both 走 and 走路 can mean “walk (on foot)”, but:

走 is a verb: walk, go on foot.
走路 is more like a verb-object phrase: literally “walk road”.

In this sentence, 走到教学楼 is very natural and common.

You can say:

她每天从宿舍走路到教学楼只要五分钟。

This is understandable, but in practice:

从 A 走到 B is more concise and a bit more idiomatic.
走路 is often used without a destination:
- 他喜欢走路。 – He likes walking.
- 我走路去学校。 – I go to school on foot.

So:

从宿舍走到教学楼 – perfectly natural.
从宿舍走路到教学楼 – okay but less common.

Are there other natural ways to say this sentence in Chinese?

Yes, several variations keep the same meaning but change the structure a bit. For example:

宿舍离教学楼很近，走路只要五分钟。
– The dorm is very close to the classroom building; walking only takes five minutes.
她每天走路从宿舍到教学楼，只要五分钟。
– Every day she walks from the dorm to the classroom building; it only takes five minutes.
她每天从宿舍走到教学楼，只用五分钟。
– Same as original, but using 用 instead of 要.
她每天从宿舍走到教学楼要五分钟。
– Same but without 只; neutral “it takes five minutes” (not emphasizing “only”).

Your original version is already very natural and textbook‑standard.