What you will be able to do
- Choose between 坐, 骑, 开 and 走路 according to how your body meets the vehicle.
- Put the means of transport before the verb of motion: 我坐地铁去公司.
- Ask the way with 怎么, and describe a distance with 从…到… or with 离 plus 远 or 近.
Chinese words in this text can be activated to show a dictionary gloss.
Crossing a city
The verb depends on the vehicle
There is no general word for to take a bus or a train. Mandarin picks the verb by what your body actually does.
- zuò — literally to sit. Anything you sit inside: zuò gōnggòng qìchē, zuò chūzūchē, zuò huǒchē, zuò fēijī, zuò dìtiě, zuò chuán.
- qí — literally to straddle. Anything you sit astride: qí zìxíngchē, qí mótuōchē, qí mǎ.
- kāi — to drive, from the driver's seat: kāi chē.
- On foot there is zǒulù: 。 Wǒ zǒulù qù.
Say and a listener will picture you on the roof. The choice is not arbitrary; it is a picture.
Where the vehicle goes in the sentence
The means of transport is not an afterthought at the end. It comes first, as the means, and the verb of motion follows it:
- 。 Wǒ zuò dìtiě qù gōngsī. — I take the metro to the office.
- 。 Tā zuò fēijī qù Běijīng.
- 。 Wǒmen zǒulù qù fàndiàn.
The order is subject, then how, then go, then where. English puts the vehicle at the end of the sentence and Mandarin puts it in the middle, which makes this one of the most reliable mistakes at this level. Two verbs standing in a row like …… are perfectly normal: the first says how, the second says what happens.
Asking the way
zěnme means how, and like every question word it sits in the slot the answer will fill — in front of the verb.
- ？ Nǐ zěnme qù xuéxiào? — How do you get to school? Answer: 。
- ？ Qù jīchǎng zěnme zǒu? — How do I get to the airport?
- ？ Zuò jǐ lù chē? — Which bus? Bus routes are counted with lù: 。
Measuring the journey
Two frames, and they are not interchangeable.
- cóng … dào … traces a route from one end to the other: 。 Cóng wǒ jiā dào jīchǎng yào yí ge xiǎoshí. — It takes an hour from my house to the airport.
- lí states a gap and then judges it: 。 Wǒ jiā lí xuéxiào hěn jìn. ？ Huǒchēzhàn lí zhèr yuǎn ma?
The test is simple. If the sentence is about travelling, use ……. If it is about how far apart two places are, use with yuǎn or jìn.
In a taxi
- ，。 Shīfu, qù huǒchēzhàn. — shīfu is the ordinary, respectful way to address a driver.
- 。 Qǐng zài zhèr tíng. — Stop here, please.
- 。 Dào le. — Here we are. The marks the arrival as a change of situation.
Show a written address rather than pronouncing a street name you have never heard said aloud, and expect a driver to work from a screen. On a bus, xià yí zhàn is the next stop, and the announcement will name it twice.
How to work through it
Sit, straddle, drive, walkread
Read the first two sections and sort ten vehicles into the three verbs without looking: bus, bicycle, plane, car you are driving, train, taxi, boat, motorbike, metro, horse. If you hesitate, ask what your legs are doing.
Vehicles and stationsvocabulary
Learn each vehicle already attached to its verb — 坐公共汽车, 坐飞机 — so that the pairing is never a decision later. 远 comes with 近 as its opposite, and both live in the 离 frame.
How comes before wheresentence
Build five sentences on the frame subject + 坐 X + 去 + place: to school, to the airport, to the station, to a friend, home. Then convert each into a question with 怎么 and answer it.
Which bus, and how farquiz
Ten items. Six place 怎么, 几 or 多少 in a transport question; four use 路 for a bus route and 个 for a length of time, so that 三路车 and 三个小时 do not blur into each other.
Two minutes in a taxispeaking
Play driver and passenger. Give a destination, ask how long it takes with 从…到…要多长时间, ask whether it is far with 离…远吗, and close with 请在这儿停 and 谢谢. Swap roles and answer entirely in numbers.