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The result complement "到dao"

You probably learned the result complement 到 a long time ago, as part of words like 看到 ("to see") and 听到 ("to hear").

Adding 到 after a verb makes it very clear that the desired result was achieved. If you looked and you saw, then 到 indicates that. On the other hand, not adding 到 makes it unclear whether or not the desired result was achieved. It can have the effect of making a verb mean "try to verb." So 做 without 到 is kind of like "try to do," but when you want to make it very clear that results were achieved or must be achieved, that's when you want to add 到.

学 vs. 学到

1. 我 想 学 中文
   Wǒ xiǎng xué Zhōngwén.
   I want to study Chinese.


2. 我们 今天 学 了 很 多 生词 。
   Wǒmen jīntiān xué le hěn duō shēngcí.
   Today we learned many new words.


3. 在 这个 公司 工作 ，我 学 到 了 很 多 东西。
   Zài zhège gōngsī gōngzuò, wǒ xuédào le hěn duō dōngxi.
   Working for this company, I learned a lot of things.
   

Click the following link to learn more about the topic: Result complement (Chinese Grammar Wiki)