Drive a car, ride a bike, take a train and catch a bus: transport verbs tell the listener whether you operate a vehicle, travel as a passenger or manage part of a journey. Learn the verb with its usual object and preposition. “I drove the bus” describes the driver; “I took the bus” describes a passenger.
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Choose the verb for your journey
| Verb and past form | When to use it | Natural example |
|---|---|---|
| drive / drove | Operate a motor vehicle; also take someone somewhere in it | My neighbour drove me to the station. |
| ride / rode | Travel on a bike or horse, or as a passenger in a vehicle | We rode our bikes along the canal. |
| cycle / cycled | Travel by bicycle | I cycle to work when the weather is dry. |
| take / took | Use a form of transport as a passenger | We took the train instead of a taxi. |
| catch / caught | Get on a service, often with a timetable in mind | Leave now and you can catch the 8:15 bus. |
| miss / missed | Fail to catch a service | I missed my connection because the first train was late. |
| fly / flew | Travel by air; also operate an aircraft | They flew to Madrid for the weekend. |
| sail / sailed | Travel by boat or ship, or operate a sailing boat | The ferry sailed at dawn. |
| walk / walked | Travel on foot | We walked from the hotel to the museum. |
| commute / commuted | Travel regularly between home and work or study | She commutes to college by train. |
Ride is not limited to bicycles: “ride the bus” is natural, particularly in American English, and “ride in a taxi” is possible too. Sail does not always imply that a vessel has sails; ferries and other engine-powered ships can sail. Compare the meanings in Cambridge’s entries for ride and sail.
Get on, get off, get in and get out of
| Vehicle | Entering or mounting | Leaving |
|---|---|---|
| Bus, train, tram, plane | get on the bus | get off the bus |
| Car, taxi | get in / into the car | get out of the car |
| Bike, motorbike, horse | get on the bike | get off the bike |
These are useful patterns to learn, not a physical rule about whether you can stand inside a vehicle. At a station or airport, board means get on: “Passengers can board the train now.” It takes a direct object, so use board the train, not board on the train.
Take off and land describe the aircraft’s departure from and return to the ground: “The plane took off late but landed on time.” Depart is common in announcements; leave is more conversational: “The train departs at nine” and “Our train leaves at nine.”
By train, on the train or in a car?
Use by + transport type to name the method: by train, by bus, by car, by plane. Normally, there is no article in this pattern. Use on foot, not by foot, for walking.
Use on the train or in a car to describe someone’s location. Compare “I travel by train” with “I’m on the train now.” With a possessive, say “We went in my car,” not “by my car.”
For destinations, use arrive at a specific place, such as a station, and arrive in a city or country: “We arrived at the terminal” and “We arrived in Lisbon.” Reach takes no destination preposition: “We reached the hotel.” For more journey language, see our airport English guide.
Pick someone up and drop someone off
Pick someone up means collect them, often by car. Drop someone off means take them somewhere and leave them there. “Can you pick me up at the station?” asks for collection; “Please drop me off outside the library” gives the destination.
With a pronoun, put it between the verb and particle: pick me up, drop her off. Do not say pick up me or drop off her. With a noun, both positions can work: “pick up the children” or “pick the children up.”
Moving things: carry, deliver and ship
Carry focuses on supporting or moving something: “Could you carry this suitcase upstairs?” Deliver focuses on taking it to its recipient or destination: “The driver delivered the parcel to our office.” Ship focuses on sending goods; it can describe delivery by road or air as well as by sea.
Bring and take depend on the speaker’s viewpoint. A host says, “Bring your bag to my house.” A traveller says, “I’ll take my bag to the station.” For additional forms and everyday combinations, use our common verbs reference.
A journey in context
“Yesterday I walked to the bus stop and caught the 7:40. I got off at Central Station and took a train to the airport. My flight took off twenty minutes late. After we landed, a friend picked me up and dropped me off at my hotel.”
This model separates travelling, entering or leaving a vehicle, and collecting a passenger. You can describe a similar journey without using the same verb in every sentence.
Practice: choose the natural form
- I was a passenger yesterday. I ___ the bus to work. (drove / took)
- We reached the stop after the bus left, so we ___ it. (caught / missed)
- Open the door and get ___ the taxi. (into / on)
- Please pick ___ at six. (me up / up me)
- We travelled ___ train. (by / by the)
- They arrived ___ Berlin at noon. (at / in)
- The passengers ___ the plane before departure. (boarded / boarded on)
- The courier will ___ the parcel to your door. (commute / deliver)
Answers and reasons
- Took: the sentence describes a passenger, not the bus driver.
- Missed: the bus had already left.
- Into: we get in or into a taxi.
- Me up: a pronoun goes between pick and up.
- By: no article is needed when naming the transport method.
- In: Berlin is a city.
- Boarded: the verb directly takes the plane as its object.
- Deliver: the focus is taking the parcel to its destination.
Your turn: describe your last journey in four sentences. Include a transport method, one past-tense verb, where you got on or off, and where you arrived.
