Mandarin: Exploring the town

When navigating any place, it is useful to know how to talk about different locations and types of transport.

To ask where someone is going in Mandarin, you can say:

你去哪儿？ Nǐ qù nǎr (nǎ er)? - Where are you going?

For most places, you can answer in Mandarin with:

我去 Wǒ qù - I’m going…

Example:

• 我去公园 Wǒ qù gōng yuán - I’m going to the park

Did you know?

The exception to the above rule in Mandarin is ‘home’, for which you would say:

我回 Wǒ huí - I’m going back…

So if you want to say you are returning home in Mandarin you would say:

我回家 Wǒ huí jiā - I’m going back home

To ask how someone is going to get somewhere in Mandarin, you can say:

你怎么去？ Nǐ zěn me qù? - How are you getting there?

There are three ways to respond to this question in Mandarin:

• 我坐 Wǒ zuò - I take, for vehicles you sit in, eg the bus or a taxi

• 我骑 Wǒ qí - I ride, for vehicles you sit on or across, eg a bike

• 我走着去 Wǒ zǒu zhe qù - I walk there

For example, if you are going to get the bus, in Mandarin you would say:

我坐公交车 Wǒ zuò gōng jiāo chē - I take the bus

Did you know?

Each mode of transport in Mandarin shares the final character 车 chē (vehicle).

The Mandarin characters before this generally describe the vehicle in question, eg:

• 自 zì (self) 行 xíng (do or travel) 车 chē (vehicle) - bike

• 公交 gōng jiāo (short for public transport) 车 chē (vehicle) - bus

Knowing the points of the compass can help you understand the names of some places and give you an idea of where they might be.

Example cities:

Beijing – means 'North Capital'

Nanjing – means 'South Capital'

Dongjing – means 'East Capital' (Tokyo)

Xi’an – means 'Western Peace'