Elementary - Taking a Taxi

Here's the SpanishPod question of the day: ¿En qué vas al trabajo? How do you get to work? ¿En metro? ¿En camión? ¿En coche? (Check out the Vocabulary tab above for more modes of transport) Yo voy al trabajo caminando, a pie. No vivo muy lejos; mi casa está a 10 minutos del Estudio Fiesta.

You can also ask: ¿Cómo vas al trabajo? Yo voy en taxi.

Do you want to learn some more vocabulary? Yeahh! So let me say that in Spain we call the bus "el autobús" or "el bus".Isn't that so easy to remember? Ok, so if you want to say: The bus number 25 takes you there, it would be: El bus número 25 te lleva allí.

Taxis have played a big part in my life. I drove a taxi in San Francisco for a couple of years. And now, 25 years later in Los Angeles, I have to take taxis when I have too much to carry, like after grocery shopping, because I'm not able to drive a car anymore. I don't mean to insult Liliana's home city, but from what I understand, prices and the lack of meters and regulation aren't the only problems with the taxi in el Distrito Federál. Over the past few years, they have become a small kidnapping industry, as well. Or just robbery. pretty scary. by comparison,the sometimes crazy taxi journeys of New York city,or the Russian immigrant cabbies here, chatting incessantly on their cells as they drive, are nothing special. Again, I mean no insult to your great city, Liliana. A question: I always use estar to talk about where a building is. I kind of like quedar because it lends more a sense of permanence to the idea of the building standing and remaining where it is, unlike a person who can setá one place, but then walk away and está in another place. Could someone just say how native Spanish speakers choose between estár and quedar in a situation like this? Wouldn't estár have been okay, too? Thanks.

Yardbird, no insult taken but it is true what you say, we need more security not only in cabs, but in all Mexico! Anyway, about your question, the truth is we usually use both "estar" and "quedar" in the same way when it comes to distances.

Yo voy al trabajo paseando, a bicicleta. Vivo cerca de mi oficina.

Fimperial Yo voy al trabajo en bicicleta. Vivo cerca de mi oficina. Just a tiny change!

Thank you Liliana. I was trying to modify JPs sentence from his first post to fit my message: "Yo voy al trabajo caminando, a pie." (i go to work walking, on foot?) So I guess I was trying to say "I go to work riding, by bicycle". Does that sound too awkward with the use of bicycle?

fimperial, Pasear doesn't usually specify a destination; we use it to say "to go for a walk," "to go for a ride," "to go for a drive," etc. If you absolutely must modify my sentence (I'm so proud!) you can try Yo voy al trabajo pedaleando, en bicicleta, ("I pedal to work, on bicycle.") but it sounds just as silly in Spanish as it does in English. So go with Lili's recommendation! Btw, Lili va al trabajo en motocicleta. Filipino moment: When your mom says "let's go pasiyal that is the Tagalog pronunciation of pasear. And, interestingly enough, if she says "let's go galibantíng," that's actually the English word gallivanting. That took my cousins and I YEARS to figure out; it was actually kind of a shocker. Oh yes... we are awesome! /Filipino moment.

Gracias both of you guys for clarifying. oh MAN - when I was a kid at Christmas after midnight mass we would drop my dad off at the house, go "pashal pashal" in the family car, then come home and SantaClaus would have just made his appearance. I would've never linked "pashal pashal" to pasear.. can't wait to share that one with my heranos y hermana. Amen on the "galibanting".. How many bears were in the car with Goldilocks? (must say with Filipino accent) Four - the momma bear, the poppa bear, the baby bear, and the driver. Okay I'll stop now. :)

Entonces, cuando no estoy segura si el taxista tiene un "taxometer", ¿cómo lo pregunto? Pues, ¿cómo se dice TAXOMETER en español? PS: ¡me encantan las lecciones! (would it be "vosotras lecciones" for "your lessons"?) muchas gracias j*

juanaloca, ¿Hay taxímetro? In many places in Latin America, the answer will be No, no hay. PS: Gracias, me alegro gue te gusten las lecciónes. ¡Me encantan sus preguntas! : )

thanks again, you're great!

No trabajo ahora pero cuando necesito ir a la ciudad hacer las compras voy en mi coche. ¡Solamente conduzco por los viajes cortos porque no me gusta conducir mucho!