There are a few essential phrases that you need to know when travelling through Spain using public transport. Phrases that you must learn even if you learn no others. The sections on the left contain a wider range of expressions covering different situations.

Travelling by Train

Firstly, you need to be able to find a station. The Spanish word for 'station' is estación. (The Spanish for bus station is estación de autobúses). The phrase to use, when you want to find a station but don't know if one exists is:

¿Hay alguna estación de tren cerca? 'Is there a train station nearby?'

If you know there is a station, but can't find it:

¿Dónde está la estación? 'Where is the train station?'

Secondly, you need to be able to buy a ticket

Un billete 'a ticket'

Or Un billete por favor 'a ticket please' if you are feeling polite. (The use of 'please' and 'thankyou' after every request is a particularly English habit.

If you need more than one ticket, use the appropriate Spanish number and add an 's' on the end of billete.

Dos billetes 'two tickets'

Tres billetes 'three tickets'

And so on.

Travelling by Taxi

There are many expressions that you can use when in a taxi, but the key phrases are:-

Quiero ir a .. 'I want to go to ..'

And, if you know where you are (once you have arrived) :-

Pare aquí 'Stop here'

Travelling by Bus

The word for 'bus stop' is parada which means 'stop' or if you want to be more precise parada de autobús.

You may want to know when the next bus arrives, and the phrase for this is:

¿Cuándo es el próximo autobús? 'When is the next bus?'

In Spanish, as in English, there are many ways of saying the same thing but with slight variations. So if you want to say specifically 'when does the next bus arrive?' use :

¿Cuándo llega el próximo autobús? 'When does next bus arrive?'

This illustrates how phrases can be an effective way to improve your Spanish without much effort. llega comes from the verb llegar which has several meanings one of which is to arrive. Learning this word in the context of a phrase you already know makes it easier to remember.

If a bus has already arrived, you might want to find out when it departs. So ask the driver:

¿A qué hora sale el autobús? 'What time does the bus leave?'

Cuándo 'when' can be used in place of A qué hora 'At what time'.

Both of these words are used in many time related expressions. E.g 'When does the shop open/close'.