Learn how to ride a bus
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| INTRODUCTION |
| The bus is an important means of transportation. In many Czech cities, even big ones, we use buses almost as often as the tram, to cover both long and short distances. However, before starting your trip, you probably need to buy a ticket. In the big cities you can usually use the same one ticket for all public transport. You may purchase tickets at the kiosks or vending machines. There are kiosks that sell other things also, like juice, papers, biscuits or something else. Upon entering the bus, you must validate your ticket by having it stamped at a validation machine. |
| GRAMMAR POINT |
| No matter what you choose for your trip - the bus or the tram - a ticket is what you need to buy. |
| Before you buy a ticket, you’ll want to know how much it costs. In Czech “How much is a ticket” is: |
| Kolik stojí jízdenka? |
| (slow) Ko-lik sto-jí jíz-den-ka? |
| Kolik stojí jízdenka? |
| ・ |
| In some cases you might have to be more specific. |
| If you travel by a bus, you can say “Kolik stojí jízdenka na autobus?” “How much is a ticket for a bus?” |
| And if you travel by a tram, you can say |
| “Kolik stojí jízdenka na tramvaj?” |
| How much is a ticket for a tram? |
| Let’s hear again the first phrase for travelling by bus. |
| (slow) Ko-lik sto-jí jíz-den-ka na au-to-bus? |
| Kolik stojí jízdenka na autobus? |
| All we did was add na autobus after jízdenka. |
| Na means “for” and autobus is the Czech word for “bus.” |
| Let’s hear the two words again: |
| (slow) Na. |
| Na. |
| And |
| (slow) Au-to-bus. |
| Autobus. |
| We can use the same phrase if you need a tram ticket instead, just replace na autobus with na tramvaj. As you already may have noticed, tramvaj is the word for “tram.” |
| (slow) Tram-vaj. |
| Tramvaj. |
| Kolik stojí jízdenka na tramvaj? |
| ・ |
| When you’re ready to buy a ticket, you say: |
| Jednu jízdenku, prosím. |
| This means “one ticket, please”. |
| Let’s break it down: |
| (slow) Jed-nu jíz-den-ku, pro-sím. |
| Once more: |
| Jednu jízdenku, prosím. |
| First we have jednu which means “one”. |
| Next comes jízdenku, which is translated as “ticket.” |
| (slow) Jíz-den-ku. |
| Jízdenku. |
| Don’t forget to add prosím for “please” at the end! |
| So the whole request (“One ticket, please”) is |
| Jednu jízdenku, prosím. |
| If you want to specify which kind of ticket you want, you just add the words “for a bus” (na autobus) or “for a tram” (na tramvaj) at the end of the sentences before the word prosím. |
| Then “One bus ticket please!” will be: |
| Jednu jízdenku na autobus, prosím. |
| (slow) Jed-nu jíz-den-ku na au-to-bus, pro-sím. |
| Jednu jízdenku na autobus, prosím. |
| And “One tram ticket please!”: |
| Jednu jízdenku na tramvaj, prosím. |
| (slow) Jed-nu jíz-den-ku na tram-vaj, pro-sím. |
| Jednu jízdenku na tramvaj, prosím. |
| ・ |
| If you will stay in Czech more than a few days, the best option is to buy a weekly or monthly ticket. Let’s learn to ask for that. |
| If you want to buy a weekly ticket, you say: |
| Jednu týdenní jízdenku, prosím. |
| Let’s break it down: |
| (slow)Jed-nu tý-de-nní jíz-den-ku, pro-sím. |
| Once more: |
| Jednu týdenní jízdenku, prosím. |
| The first word jednu means “one”. |
| (slow) Jed-nu. |
| Jednu. |
| The second word týdenní is translated as “weekly”. |
| (slow) Tý-de-nní. |
| Týdenní. |
| Next we have jízdenku which is the form of the noun “ticket”. |
| And at the end don’t forget to add prosím. |
| The whole sentence is: |
| Jednu týdenní jízdenku, prosím. |
| “A weekly ticket, please.” |
| ・ |
| If you want to buy a monthly ticket, you say: |
| Jednu měsíční jízdenku, prosím. |
| ( slow) Jed-nu mě-síč-ní jíz-den-ku, pro-sím. |
| As you’ve already observed, instead of týdenní we say měsíční, meaning “monthly”. |
| (slow) Mě-síč-ní. |
| Měsíční. |
| Once again, that’s |
| Jednu měsíční jízdenku, prosím. |
| “A monthly ticket, please.” |
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