after all; in the end; on earth
HSK level
到底 is written with 16 strokes (到: 8, 底: 8). The animation replays automatically.
到底 (dàodǐ) has two main uses.
As an adverb in questions it intensifies and demands a definitive answer — roughly English 'on earth' or 'exactly': 你到底想要什么？('What on earth do you want?'). Here it presses the listener to stop dodging and commit. As an adverb in statements it means 'after all,' 'in the end,' or 'when all is said and done': 他到底还是来了 ('In the end he came after all').
Literally 到底 means 'reach the bottom,' and it can also be used physically — 坚持到底 ('persist to the very end'). English speakers should note the interrogative use has no clean single-word equivalent; it adds impatience or insistence to a question. 到底 is neutral in register and very common in speech. In a question it cannot combine with 吗 — you use it with a question word (什么, 谁, 为什么) or an A-not-A form.
Character by character
Memory hook: 'Reach the bottom' → getting to the very bottom of things: in the end / what exactly?
你到底去不去？
Nǐ dàodǐ qù bu qù?
Are you going or not, exactly?
spoken
这件事到底是怎么回事？
Zhè jiàn shì dàodǐ shì zěnme huí shì?
What on earth is going on with this?
spoken
试了很多次，他到底还是成功了。
Shì le hěnduō cì, tā dàodǐ háishì chénggōng le.
After many tries, he succeeded in the end.
neutral
做事要坚持到底。
Zuòshì yào jiānchí dàodǐ.
When you do something, see it through to the end.
written
究竟 is the more formal/written equivalent for the 'on earth' questioning sense (你究竟想干什么). 到底 is more colloquial and also has the 'in the end / to the bottom' meaning that 究竟 lacks.
Acquire it by listening
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