Textbook · HSK 2
Taking the 302 坐公交车
李明 coaches 玛丽 onto the right bus across town: 从 and 到 for where a trip starts and ends, 向 for the way it heads, 离 for how far apart two places sit, and 第一站 for where to get off, in ten new words.
Read the exchange below once, straight through, before we take it apart. 玛丽 wants to get to a store across town and has never taken a city bus here. Watch for two words that almost always come as a pair, 从 and 到, marking where a trip starts and where it lands. Watch for 向, which points at the way the bus is heading, and for 离 and 远, which together say how far apart two places sit. And notice 玛丽 and 李明 still running the answer-then-ask move: she repeats back what she just heard, then asks the next thing she needs.
ⓘ 离 measures the gap between two places
商店离这儿远吗？ means 'is the store far from here?' 离 sits between the two places and measures the space between them: A 离 B, then 远 or some distance. Here 商店离这儿 is 'the store, from here,' and 远 says how big that gap is. 离 never carries any motion. It just measures the distance between two spots.
ⓘ 从 marks where you start, 到 marks where you land
从这儿到商店 means 'from here to the store.' 从 marks where the trip starts and 到 marks where it ends, and the two almost always travel together as 从 A 到 B. Both of them come before the verb they set up: 从这儿到商店，坐三零二路, 'from here to the store, ride the 302.'
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公共汽车站 is 'bus stop.' The 站 on the end is 'stop' or 'station,' the spot where a bus halts. You will meet 站 again the moment you take a train or a subway, always meaning the place you get on and off.
ⓘ 向 points the way the bus is heading
向商店去 means 'heads toward the store.' 向 points at the direction the motion aims for, and the place comes right after it: 向商店, 向前. Then a motion word like 去 or 看 finishes the thought: 向商店去 (goes toward the store), 向前看 (looks straight ahead).
ⓘ 进 is the 'go in' of boarding a bus
进去 means 'go in.' For a bus, getting on is 进 ('go in'), and 去 says the movement heads away from you: 进去, 'in you go.' You will pair 进 with 来 and 去 all the time: 进来 is 'come in,' 进去 is 'go in.'
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玛丽 repeats the last thing she heard, 学校前面, then asks the next question, 我进去吗？ That small repeat-then-ask is the whole reason a set of directions can feel like a conversation instead of a list read out loud.
ⓘ 第一 is 'first,' built by parking 第 in front of a number
第一 means 'first.' Chinese builds ordinals by putting 第 in front of a plain number: 第一 (first), 第二 (second), 第三 (third). So 第一站 is 'the first stop.' The same trick turns any count you already know into a rank.
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出来 is the mirror of 进去. 进 took 玛丽 onto the bus; 出 takes her off it. 进 goes in, 出 comes out, and here 出来 is 'come out, get off.'
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Answer, then ask. 玛丽 confirms the plan, 第一站出来, and immediately hands the turn back with 你也去商店吗？ 也 is the 'too' from the weather chapter, still sitting right before the verb.
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李明 says what he is doing, 我在学校, before sending her off with one last tip. Even a quick exchange keeps the give-a-little rhythm going.
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玛丽 says the whole route back in one breath. Repeating a set of directions out loud is the fastest way to make them stick, and it lets 李明 catch any mistake before the bus pulls away.
Look at how much of this ride rides on two small words. 从 and 到 set the two ends of the trip: 从这儿到商店 is 'from here to the store,' and once you have those two posts planted, everything in between is just the bus. 李明 uses them, and by the last line 玛丽 hands them right back, 从学校到商店, to prove she caught it. That repeat-then-ask habit is doing exactly what it did in the earlier chapters. She never just nods and hopes. She says the last piece back, then asks the next thing she needs, and the directions stay a conversation the whole way through.
Why 从 and 到 almost never travel alone
You can use 到 by itself to mean 'arrive,' and 从 shows up alone in a few set phrases, but when you are describing an actual trip they come as a matched pair: 从 A 到 B. 从 plants the starting post, 到 plants the finish post, and the listener fills in the line between them. 从这儿到商店 gives both ends at once, 'from here to the store.' The pair sits in front of the verb, not after it, which is the part English speakers have to retrain: not 'ride the 302 from here to the store' with the route first, but 从这儿到商店，坐三零二路, the two ends first and the verb last. Once you hear 从 open a sentence, your ear should already be waiting for the 到 that closes it.
A bus line is a 路, and the number rides in front of it: 三零二路 is 'the 302.' The tricky part is not the character but the way the number is read. 三零二 is said one digit at a time, 'three, zero, two,' never as 'three hundred and two.' Bus numbers, room numbers, and phone numbers all work this way. Say each digit on its own and add 路 for a line: 三零二路, 五路, 一零一路.
How 三零二路 is actually said out loud
When 三零二 is a real quantity it is 'three hundred and two,' but a bus number is not a quantity, it is a label, so it gets read digit by digit: sān líng èr, 'three, zero, two,' then 路 for the line. This is the same habit you already used for phone numbers back when 李明 and 玛丽 swapped digits. The 零 ('zero') in the middle is spoken, not skipped. And the stop counting rides on 站: 第一站 is 'the first stop,' 第二站 'the second,' and 从这儿到商店 might be just one 站 or several. So a whole bus ride can be built from pieces you already have: a 路 for the line, digits read one at a time, and 第 plus a number for which 站 to get off at.
Place your bets. 玛丽 wants to say the trip goes 'from here to the store.' She has 这儿 and 商店. Which two words plant the start post and the finish post? Picture the whole phrase, then reveal.
从 and 到. Say 从这儿到商店, 'from here to the store.' 从 marks where you start, 到 marks where you land, and the pair sits in front of the verb: 从这儿到商店，坐三零二路.
Getting on and getting off are a matched pair too. 进 is 'go in,' the boarding word, and 出 is 'go out,' the word for getting off. 李明 says 进去 to wave her aboard and 出来 to send her off at the stop. Hang 来 or 去 on the end and you point the motion: 进去 is 'in, away from me,' 出来 is 'out, toward the open door.' The same two verbs will carry you in and out of rooms, shops, and gates for the rest of the course.
离 measures a gap; 从 starts a trip. Do not mix them up.
离 and 从 both sit between you and another place, so beginners reach for the wrong one. Keep them apart by what they do. 离 measures a still, unmoving distance: 商店离这儿很远 is 'the store is far from here,' a fact about the gap, with nobody going anywhere. 从 starts a motion: 从这儿到商店 is 'from here to the store,' a trip that actually happens. A quick test: if you could add 远 or 近 to it, you want 离 (商店离这儿远). If a verb of going is coming, you want 从 (从这儿到商店坐车). 玛丽 opens the scene with 离 to ask how far it is, then switches to 从 the moment she is actually about to travel.
Bet first. 玛丽 wants to tell someone 'the store is far from here.' She has 商店, 这儿, and 远. Which word goes between the two places to measure the gap, and does 从 fit here? Guess, then reveal.
离, not 从. Say 商店离这儿很远, 'the store is far from here.' 离 measures the unmoving distance between two places. 从 would be wrong because nothing is traveling yet; you only reach for 从 when a trip actually starts, as in 从这儿到商店.
Last bet. The bus pulls up and 李明 tells 玛丽 the store is the first stop. To board she uses one verb, and to get off at the stop she uses its opposite. Which two words, and which is which? Predict, then reveal.
进 to board and 出 to get off. He says 进去 ('go in') to wave her aboard and 出来 ('come out') at the stop. And the stop itself is 第一站, 'the first stop,' with 第 plus 一 building the ordinal.
That is the whole chapter. Ten words, and you can name a bus line, plant the two ends of a trip, get on and off, and say how far one place sits from another.
- 从 (cóng): from; marks where a trip starts, almost always paired with 到
- 到 (dào): to, to arrive; marks where a trip lands
- 路 (lù): road, route; also the word for a numbered bus line, as in 三零二路
- 公共汽车 (gōng gòng qì chē): bus; often shortened to 公交车 in everyday speech
- 出 (chū): to go out; the 'get off' of leaving a bus
- 进 (jìn): to go in; the 'get on' of boarding a bus
- 第一 (dì yī): first; 第 plus any number builds an ordinal (第一, 第二, 第三)
- 向 (xiàng): toward; points the way the motion is heading
- 离 (lí): (measuring distance) from; sets two places apart to state the gap between them
- 远 (yuǎn): far
Plant the trip with 从 A 到 B, name the line with a 路, get on with 进 and off with 出 at the right 站, and use 离 plus 远 to say how far it all is. Practice it in the study room, then go catch the next bus with 玛丽.