Dialogue

Lesson Transcript

Do you know how to talk about means of transportation in Chinese?
Welcome to Three Step Chinese Practice by ChineseClass101.com. In this lesson, you'll learn how to describe how you get to places like work, school, or the gym.
Let's look at the main dialogue.
Two people are having a conversation.
我们7点见面。我打算跑步去三里屯。你也要跑步去吗,黄先生?(Wǒmen qī diǎn jiànmiàn. Wǒ dǎsuàn pǎobù qù Sānlǐtún. Nǐ yě yào pǎobù qù ma, Huáng xiānsheng?)
"We're meeting at 7. I plan to jog to Sanlitun. Are you going to jog there too, Mr. Huang?"
我已经累了。我打算坐电车去。(Wǒ yǐjīng lèi le. Wǒ dǎsuàn zuò diànchē qù.)
"I'm already tired. I plan to take the tram."
In this lesson, we learned two very useful sentence patterns to talk about transportation.
The first one is: Subject + 坐/乘 + Transport + 去 + Location.
This pattern lets you say how you're going somewhere, using public transport like
坐电车 (zuò diànchē), meaning "take the tram"
The second pattern is:
Subject + 跑步/走路 + 去 + Location.
Here, verbs like
跑步 (pǎo bù) "to run" and
走路 (zǒu lù) "to walk" are actions by themselves, so they are followed directly by
去 (qù) without mentioning a vehicle.
These patterns are especially helpful when you're talking about your travel plans or daily routine.
We've also learnt that
in Chinese, different verbs are used depending on how you travel.
坐 (zuò) is used for most public transportation, like buses, trains, and the subway.
For taxis, planes, or boats, you can use either 坐 (zuò) or 乘 (chéng).
The verb 乘 is also used more generally for "taking a vehicle."
If you ride a bicycle, you use 骑 (qí), and for driving your own car, the verb is 开 (kāi).
To talk about walking or running, use 走路 (zǒulù) and 跑步 (pǎobù).
These last two are standalone actions and don't require a transportation noun after them.
Let's practice this grammar in this episode!

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