Learn about buying a subway ticket
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| INTRODUCTION |
| In Spain, riding the rails is one of the best ways to get around. The subway is a convenient way to get to where you’re going. |
| GRAMMAR POINT |
| In Spain, the subway system is called metro. |
| metro |
| Metro is a short form for tren metropolitano which means “metropolitan train.” |
| In Spain, one can buy metro tickets at ticket gate windows and vending machines. Let’s work on getting a ticket at ticket gate windows. In most metros in Spain, you pay a flat fee, not for a price depending on the distance you will travel. So, you will only need to ask for as many tickets as you need. We can accomplish this by asking for the number of tickets followed by por favor, which of course is “please.” |
| For example, if you need one ticket, Un billete por favor, “One ticket, please.” |
| For two tickets, Dos billetes por favor “Two tickets, please” and so on. |
| Now, before getting on a train, it is a good idea to see if it’s heading to your destination. |
| For today’s lesson, we’ll use Neguri Station, which is a very nice station in Bilbao Metro. |
| In Spanish, station is estación. |
| Let’s break it down by syllable: es-ta-ción. |
| And now, let’s hear it once again, estación. |
| So, our destination is Neguri Station, which in Spanish is estación de Neguri. So in Spanish, “Will this metro train go to Neguri Station?” is ¿Este metro va a la estación de Neguri? |
| ¿Este metro va a la estación de Neguri? |
| Let’s break it down by syllable: ¿Es-te me-tro va a la es-ta-ción de Ne-gu-ri? |
| Now, let’s hear it once again, ¿Este metro va a la estación de Neguri? |
| The first word, este, means “this.” |
| Let’s break down this word and hear it one more time: es-te. |
| And este. |
| This is followed by metro, which in Spanish is “subway system” and “metro train.” |
| metro |
| me-tro |
| Then we have va, which means “it goes.” |
| va |
| This is followed by a, which means “to.” |
| a |
| So, to recap here, we have, Este metro va a… |
| Literally, this means “Does this subway go to…” |
| Let’s take a look at the next word, la, which is the article “the” for feminine singular. |
| la |
| And finally, we have estación de Neguri, which as we’ve previously seen is “Neguri Station.” |
| So all together, we have ¿Este metro va a la estación de Neguri? |
| Literally, this means “This subway goes to the station of Neguri?” and is translated as “Will this metro train go to Neguri Station?” |
| So after buying a ticket, you will enter the station through the turnstile. You must put in your ticket into the ticket slot and you will get it back on the other side of the turnstile. Keep this ticket with you until you leave the metro system through an exit turnstile at your destination station, because you may be required to show it to metro staff at any time. |
| If this happens, the metro staff will ask, ¿Me puede enseñar su billete? which means “May I see your ticket.” |
| ¿Me puede enseñar su billete? |
| Let’s break it down by syllable: ¿Me pue-de en-se-ñar su bi-lle-te? |
| One more time, ¿Me puede enseñar su billete? |
| If you’re planning to ride the metro multiple times, it will be cheaper to buy multi-trip tickets, which are available in many forms, group tickets, return tickets, one-day tickets, bus-combined tickets. Depending on the city you are visiting, the possibilities vary, so it’s recommended to get information from the internet or information center. Of course, there is plenty of information on the web. You just need to search Google with the words metro and the city you are visiting. The first result will surely be the website of the metro system for that city. |
Outro |
|---|
| Okay, to close out today’s lesson, we'd like for you to practice what you've just learned. I'll provide you with the English equivalent of the phrase and you are responsible for saying it aloud. You’ll have a few seconds before I give you the answer, so buena suerte, that means “good luck” in Spanish. |
| Ok, here we go! |
| “Two tickets, please.” - Dos billetes por favor. |
| Dos billetes por favor. |
| Dos billetes por favor. |
| “Will this metro train go to Neguri Station?” - ¿Este metro va a la estación de Neguri? |
| ¿Este metro va a la estación de Neguri? |
| ¿Este metro va a la estación de Neguri? |
| “May I see your ticket?” - ¿Me puede enseñar su billete? |
| ¿Me puede enseñar su billete? |
| ¿Me puede enseñar su billete? |
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