Modern Mandarin Chinese Grammar

talking about means of transportation

48.5

The expression used to describe riding on a vehicle depends upon the vehicle.

For vehicles in which you sit on a seat, the verb is 坐 zuò ‘sit.’

坐 zuò sit 车/車 chē ride in a car (go by car)

出租车/出租車

chūzū chē ride in a taxi cab/take a cab/(go) by cab

火车/火車

huǒchē take a train/by train

地铁/地鐵

dìtiě take the subway

飞机/飛機

fēijī take an airplane/by plane

公共汽车/公共汽車

gōnggòng qìchē take a bus/(go)by bus

or

公车/公車 gōngchē

For things that you ride astraddle, such as bicycles, motorcycles, and horses, the verb is

骑/騎 qí:

骑/騎 qí ride 自行车/自行車

zìxíngchē ride a bicycle

摩托车/摩托車

mótuōchē ride a motorcycle

马/馬

mǎ ride a horse

The expression used to get on or into a vehicle is 上 shàng [vehicle]:

上飞机/上飛機 shàng fēijī get on the plane; board the plane

The expression used to get off or out of a vehicle is 下 xià [vehicle]:

下火车/下火車 xià huǒchē get off the train

To indicate that you wish to get off a public vehicle, you say:

下车/下車

Xià chē!

Getting off!

48.5.2 including the means of transportation in a directional expression

The means of transportation normally occurs before the verb, or before the prepositional phrase

and the verb.

他想坐船到中国去。

他想坐船到中國去。

Tā xiǎng zuò chuán dào Zhōngguó qù.

He’s thinking about taking a boat to China.

(He’s thinking about going to China by boat.)

你可以坐地铁去天安门。

你可以坐地鐵去天安門。

Nǐ kěyǐ zuò dìtiě qù Tiān’ānmén.

You can take the subway to Tiananmen.