Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use to in a sentence

40 example sentences · particle, conjunction, preposition

To means a particle used for marking the following verb as an infinitive. Example: “I want to leave.”

Examples of to by meaning

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

  • I want to leave.
  • He asked me what to do.
  • I have places to go and people to see.

particleAs above, with the verb implied.

  • "Did you visit the museum?" "I wanted to, but it was closed."
  • If he hasn't read it yet, he ought to.

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

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

conjunctionIn order to.

  • I went to the shops to buy some bread.

prepositionIn the direction of; towards.

  • She looked to the heavens.

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

  • We are walking to the shop.
  • The water came right to the top of this wall.
  • The coconut fell to the ground.

prepositionUsed to indicate the target or recipient of an action.

  • I gave the book to him.
  • I spoke to him earlier.
  • He devoted himself to education.

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

  • I fixed the notice to the wall.
  • Put your shoulder to the door.

More sentences with to

  • If you want to know the meaning of a word, look it up in the dictionary.From the entry dictionary
  • The ancient Mesopotamians never got to write an encyclopedia on stone.From the entry encyclopedia
  • I managed to murmur some words of consolation as I left the funeral.From the entry word
  • I’m not sure how to word this letter to the council.From the entry word
  • She opened the book to page 37 and began to read aloud.From the entry book
  • Many readers find the first book of A Tale of Two Cities to be confusing.From the entry book
  • After my father had a stroke, every time he tried to talk, it sounded like nonsense.From the entry nonsense
  • I'd like to see someone pie the chairman of the board.From the entry pie
  • I was so happy to get an A on that test.From the entry a
  • If you wanna get inside, you're gonna have to crow open that door.From the entry crow
  • Let us pray that peace may soon return to our war-torn homeland.From the entry may
  • The teacher asked the students to write a report on current events.From the entry current events
  • I like to stay informed about current events by reading the newspaper daily.From the entry current events
  • In very ancient or poorly documented languages, the precise semantics of words tend to be uncertain.From the entry semantics
  • We still have a couple hours left to do in the yard.From the entry hour
  • We need to be sure these maps are accurate to within one minute of arc.From the entry minute
  • We had no money so we had to live by barter.From the entry barter
  • The man used his watch as barter to pay for his tab.From the entry barter
  • The skilled trades were the first to organize modern labor unions.From the entry trade
  • After failing his entrance exams, he decided to go into a trade.From the entry trade
  • To deny that the arrangement was a quid pro quo would be laughably disingenuous.From the entry quid pro quo
  • We gave three deals of grain in tribute to the king.From the entry deal
  • The whole crowd waited for him to deal a real humdinger.From the entry deal
  • He never learned how to pour a glass of beer so it didn't have too much head.From the entry head

Meaning of to

  1. particle A particle used for marking the following verb as an infinitive.
  2. particle As above, with the verb implied.
  3. particle Used to indicate an obligation on the part of, or a directive given to, the subject.

Full definition of to

Questions about to in a sentence

How do you use to in a sentence?
To is used as a particle, conjunction and preposition. For example: “I want to leave.”
What is a short sentence with to?
“I want to leave.”
What does to mean?
To means a particle used for marking the following verb as an infinitive.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: to (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use to in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/to. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.