Bite 16 - Transportation (3)

September 18, 2021

Transportations are getting a bit long… we will cover a few more vocabs and do some exercises and next Bite will be another topic!

Water and air transports

船
syun4

Boat / Ship

渡   輪
dou6 leon4

Ferry

飛    機
fei1 gei1

Airplane / Aeroplane

It is a verb commonly interchangeable with 搭 (covered in Bite 14 - Transportation).

坐
co5
sit

Take a ride on

The idea is, you usually sit on a transport. Even if you stand (like on a crowded underground), you 坐 the transport.

So, how do you say you flied on a plane using 坐? Think and say aloud before looking!

坐   飛   機
co5 fei1 gei1

Take a plane

Recall Bite 14. How do you say “get on a ship”?

上      船
soeng5 syun4

Get on a ship

How about “getting off the ship”?

落    船
lok6 syun4

Get off a ship

“drive a taxi”?

揸    的   士
zaa1 dik1 si2

Drive a taxi

“Ride on a train”?

搭     火  車
daap3 fo2 ce1
ride  train

Ride on a train

坐   火  車
co5 fo2 ce1
sit  train

Ride on a train

“riding a bicycle”?

踩     單    車
caai2 daan1 ce1
pedal bicycle

Ride a bicycle

“get on a car”?

上      車
soeng5 ce1

Get on a car

“get off the taxi”?

落    車
lok6 ce1

Get off a car

Wait what? Shouldn’t it be 落的士? Logically yes, but as we mentioned in Bite 14 - Transportation…

Whether it is the underground, tram, taxi, car or bus, we describe getting on one of such ground transport as “上車”.

The same goes for 落 - 落車 basically means getting off any ground transport.

Cantonese hate pronouncing long phrases and tend to simplify them. Yes, even when those were just 3 syllables. Why 3 when you can do with 2?

2 things we did this Bite:

Hope you enjoyed and see you next Bite!