using the preposition 'to' between 'been' and 'there'

Question

I have never been to China. Have you been there.

I am wondering the reason why there has not used the preposition " to" after been at the bold part, although such a preposition has been used at the italic part!

Any help would be appreciated

Answer 1

I have never been to China. Have you been there? Why there is not "to" after been.

First off. the words "here/there" are adverbs and you don't use the preposition "to" before these adverbs.

Second, the preposition "to" is inherent in the meaning of these adverbs. They mean "to, at, or in this/that place". So we don't need to use the preposition "to" before "there" or "here" in the same way as we don't use "to" before home when it's used as an adverb to mean "to the place we live".

I think it'll not be out of place if I mention that, although here/there means to/at/in this/that place, we use in/over before these adverbs such as it's hot in here, put it over there, etc. in conversation.

Answer 2

In the bold sentence, there is an adverb. So you do not use a preposition before it.

There can also be a noun. So you could say Have you ever been to there?

In that sentence there is a noun, just like China is a noun.

But to the native ear, it sounds pretty bad, and we prefer to not use there as a noun in this type of sentence.

In addition, English speakers use there as an adverb much more often than we do as a noun.

It's that simple.