Learn how to take a subway
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| Riding the Subway in Mexico |
| Only three cities in Mexico have subway systems: Mexico City, Monterrey and Guadalajara. The subway is called metro in Mexico, and it is one of the best ways to reach the most important parts of the capital. In this lesson, we will cover how to get on the subway. As we have learned in previous lessons, in Mexico you can buy tickets at kiosks and stations. This is true of the subway as well, but usually there are more conveniently located vending machines and ticket stands, right at the entrance of a subway station. But just in case you get too confused and have to ask the station attendant, we have prepared this lesson for you! |
| Now let’s get a subway ticket. You may remember from our previous lessons that the way to ask for a ticket is: |
| Un boleto, por favor. |
| (slow) Un bo-le-to, por fa-vor. |
| Un boleto, por favor. |
| This is the same sentence we learned in lesson 22. |
| Our location in this lesson is Mexico City. Imagine you’re going from your hotel in Viaducto to the Zócalo, which is a famous tourist spot in midtown Mexico City, near several large commercial centers and archeological buildings. You want to know what line will get you there. |
| You can find out by asking, “Excuse me, which subway line goes to Zócalo?” |
| Disculpe, ¿Qué línea del metro va al Zócalo? |
| Let’s break that down: |
| (slow) Dis-cul-pe, ¿Qué lí-ne-a del me-tro va al Zó-ca-lo? |
| And again at natural speed: |
| Disculpe, ¿Qué línea del metro va al Zócalo? |
| First, we say “excuse me”, as usual: Disculpe. |
| Next is Qué, which is translated as “what”. |
| (slow) Qué. |
| Qué. |
| Then we have linea, which means "line" as in “subway line”. |
| (slow) Lí-ne-a. |
| Línea. |
| After that we have del metro which literally means “of the subway”. |
| (slow) del me-tro. |
| del metro. |
| Then comes va al, which translates as “goes to”. |
| (slow) va al. |
| va al. |
| After that comes our destination, in this case Zócalo. |
| (slow) Zó-ca-lo. |
| Zócalo. |
| Altogether, that’s: |
| Disculpe, ¿Qué línea del metro va al Zócalo? |
| Here is a possible answer. “The blue line goes to Zócalo”, in Spanish: |
| La línea azul va al Zócalo. |
| Let’s break that sentence down: |
| (slow) La lí-ne-a a-zul va al Zó-ca-lo. |
| La línea azul va al Zócalo. |
| The first words are La línea, which mean “the line”. |
| (slow) La lí-ne-a. |
| La línea. |
| Next we have azul, which is the name of the line, “blue”. Literally, línea azul means "blue line". |
| (slow) a-zul. |
| azul. |
| Then we have va al, which translates as “goes to”. |
| After that is our destination, Zócalo. |
| The whole sentence again is: |
| La línea azul va al Zócalo. |
| To close out today's lessons, we’d like you to practice what you have just learned. I’ll provide you with the English equivalent of the phrase and you’re responsible for shouting it out loud. You’ll have a few seconds before I give you the answer, so !buena suerte! which means “Good luck!” in Spanish. |
| “A ticket, please.” - Un boleto, por favor. |
| “Excuse me, which line goes to Zócalo?” - Disculpe, ¿Qué línea del metro va al Zócalo? |
| “The blue line goes to Zócalo.” - La línea azul va al Zócalo. |
| Alright! That's going to do it for this lesson. Hasta luego. |
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