公共汽车 (gōnggòng qìchē) — bus

公共汽车 (gōnggòng qìchē)

A public bus, the most common form of urban public transportation. 公共 means "public," and 汽车 means "motor vehicle," so the full meaning is "public motor vehicle."

Meanings

1. [noun] Bus. A large motor vehicle carrying passengers along a fixed route.

Example Sentences

我坐公共汽车去学校。 Wǒ zuò gōnggòng qìchē qù xuéxiào. I take the bus to school.

公共汽车来了。 Gōnggòng qìchē lái le. The bus has arrived.

公共汽车站在哪里？ Gōnggòng qìchē zhàn zài nǎlǐ? Where is the bus stop?

这路公共汽车去医院吗？ Zhè lù gōnggòng qìchē qù yīyuàn ma? Does this bus go to the hospital?

Collocations

Memory Hook

Break it down: 公共 (public) + 汽车 (car/vehicle). A "public car" that everyone shares. In spoken Chinese, people often shorten it to 公交车 (gōngjiāo chē), which you will also hear frequently.