to

I want to leave.

He asked me what to do.

I have places to go and people to see.

To err is human.

Who am I to criticise? I've done worse things myself.

To err, is human; to forgive, divine.

1711 May, [Alexander Pope], An Essay on Criticism, London: […] W[illiam] Lewis […]; and sold by W[illiam] Taylor […], T[homas] Osborn[e] […], and J[ohn] Graves […], →OCLC:

To be, or not to be: that is the question: / […]

c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]:

Odds are, BP to get new CEO this year

2010 July, “Archived copy”, in Associated Press, archived from the original on 2010-07-05, headline:

To that end, the home supporters were in good voice to begin with, but it was Newcastle who started the game in the ascendancy, with Barton putting a diving header over the top from Jose Enrique's cross.

2011 April 10, Alistair Magowan, “Aston Villa 1 - 0 Newcastle”, in BBC Sport:

A particle used for marking the following verb as an infinitive.

"Did you visit the museum?" "I wanted to, but it was closed."

If he hasn't read it yet, he ought to.

You are to go to the store and buy a bottle of milk.

Used to indicate an obligation on the part of, or a directive given to, the subject.

I went to the shops to buy some bread.

the first infinitive of all verbs ends with -a or -ä

-akse- (translative of first infinitive with possessive suffix)

From Middle English to, from Old English tō, from Proto-Germanic *tō ~ *ta, from Proto-Indo-European *de ~ *do (“to”). Cognate with Scots tae, to (“to”), North Frisian to, tö, tu (“to”), Saterland Frisian tou (“to”), Low German to (“to”), Dutch toe, te (“to”), German zu (“to”), West Frisian ta (“to”). Non-Germanic cognates include Albanian ndaj (“towards”), Irish do (“to, for”), Breton da (“to, for”), Welsh i (“to, for”), Russian до (do, “to”). Doublet of too.


to

She looked to the heavens.

We are walking to the shop.

The water came right to the top of this wall.

The coconut fell to the ground.

Driven by a perceived political need to adopt a hard-line stance, Mr. Cameron’s coalition government has imposed myriad new restrictions, the aim of which is to reduce net migration to Britain to below 100,000.

2013 September 28, Kenan Malik, “London Is Special, but Not That Special”, in New York Times, retrieved 2013-09-28:

Indicating destination or final position: In the direction of, so as to arrive at or reach.

I gave the book to him.

I spoke to him earlier.

He devoted himself to education.

They drank to his health.

Used to indicate the target or recipient of an action.

I fixed the notice to the wall.

Put your shoulder to the door.

So as to contact, press against, impact, etc.

His face was beaten to a pulp.

I tried complaining, but it was to no effect.

To everyone's great relief, the tuneless carol singers finally ceased their warbling.

Used to indicate a resulting feeling or emotion.

similar to ..., relevant to ..., pertinent to ..., I was nice to him, he was cruel to her, I am used to walking.

Used after an adjective to indicate its application.

It was to a large extent true.

We manufacture these parts to a very high tolerance.

Anyone could do this job; there's nothing to it.

There's a lot of sense to what he says.

The name has a nice ring to it.

Used to describe what something consists of or contains.

It takes 2 to 4 weeks to process typical applications.

With God to friend (with God as a friend); with The Devil to fiend (with the Devil as a foe); lambs slaughtered to lake (lambs slaughtered as a sacrifice); took her to wife (took her as a wife); was sold to slave (was sold as a slave).

one to one = 1:1

ten to one = 10:1.

I have ten dollars to your four.

The odds on that horse are seven to two.

The hoſt of Xerxes, which by fame is ſaid
To drinke the mightie Parthian Araris,
Was but a handfull to that we will haue.

c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act II, scene iii:

In total, the Reds had 28 shots to their opponent's nine, and 15 corners to the Baggies' three.

2012 April 22, Sam Sheringham, “Liverpool 0-1 West Brom”, in BBC Sport:

Used to indicate a ratio or comparison; compared to, as against.

Three squared or three to the second power is nine.

Three to the power of two is nine.

Three to the second is nine.

(arithmetic) Used to indicate that the preceding term is to be raised to the power of the following value; indicates exponentiation.

What's the time? – It's quarter to four in the afternoon (or 3:45 pm).

It’s quarter to (3:45, or 4:45, or whatever time ending in 45 would make the most sense)

(time) Preceding (the stated hour).
(informal) With implied hour.

Preceding (the stated hour).
With implied hour.

Our holiday did not go to plan.

Stay where you're to and I'll come find you, b'y.

Where are you to?

"What's that to you?" said Trevool, rather sharply, "worn't I to a berrin? […]

1867, Cornish Tales, in prose and verse by various authors, page 33:

(Canada, Cornwall (UK), Newfoundland, Wales, West Midlands (UK)) At.

Cornwall (UK); West Midlands (UK); Cornwall (UK); West Midlands (UK)

Used more-or-less idiomatically with various verbs: keep to the left, agree to the proposal, attend to the matter, etc. See the individual entries.

nach (in this sense only used for and sole preposition option for constructions without articles, i.e. general directions (e.g. up, west), most countries and cities etc. and nachhause/nach Hause (home))

-δε (-de) (adverbial suffix added to certain nouns)

-σε (-se) (adverbial suffix added to certain pronouns and adjectives)

ל־

written together with the following word

felé (postposition, in the direction of)

h

if the next word begins with a "k" or "g"

-lle

e.g. annoin lantin hänelle ~ I gave a coin to her/him; puhuin hänelle ~ I spoke to her/him

kanssa

e.g. puhuin hänen kanssa(an) ~ I spoke with her/him

used after certain adjectives to indicate a relationship

uses the dative case or նկատմամբ (nkatmamb)

-en

e.g. kahdesta neljään ~ from two to four

(first number in genitive case) suhde (second number in illative case) (e.g. yhden suhde yhteen ~ one to one)

(ordinal number of the exponent in illative case)

(ordinal number of the exponent in superessive case)


to

Please push the door to.

He went in his room, pushed the door to, without fastening the latch.

1913, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, “chapter 12”, in Sons and Lovers, London: Duckworth & Co. […], →OCLC:

Aware of the loud beating of my own heart I pulled the door to against the increasing rain.

1925, F[rancis] Scott Fitzgerald, chapter V, in The Great Gatsby, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC, page 104:

(regionalism) Toward a closed, touching or engaging position.


to

I am to so bored right now.

(mild intensifier, colloquial, chiefly North India) a filler word common amongst urban Indians.