El transporte — Getting Around
🚂 El transporte — Getting Around
| Transport | Spanish phrase | English |
|---|---|---|
| train | ir en tren | to go by train |
| plane | ir en avión | to go by plane |
| bus | ir en autobús | to go by bus |
| car | ir en coche | to go by car |
| ferry | ir en barco / ir en ferry | to go by boat / ferry |
| on foot | ir a pie | to go on foot |
| underground | ir en metro | to go by underground |
All transport uses ir en + transport EXCEPT on foot: ir a pie (never "en pie"). This exception appears regularly in AQA gap-fill and translation tasks.
AQA rewards tense variety across all four papers. For holidays, you need to cover the preterite (what happened), the present (opinions and preferences), and the near future or conditional (plans and wishes). Missing any time frame costs marks on AO2 (grammar and accuracy).
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💡 Errores frecuentes — Common Errors
❌ Error 1: "Fui en extranjero el verano pasado."
✅ Correcto: "Fui al extranjero el verano pasado."
Por qué: The word extranjero (abroad / the foreign / overseas) requires the definite article in Spanish: el extranjero. And the preposition here is a (movement towards a place), not en. The contraction rule then applies: a + el must contract to al. So the only correct form is fui al extranjero — never "en extranjero", never "a el extranjero".
❌ Error 2: "Las vacación fue muy buena."
✅ Correcto: "Las vacaciones fueron muy buenas."
Por qué: Vacaciones is always plural in Spanish — there is no standard singular form la vacación in normal usage. This means the verb must also be plural (fueron, not fue), and any adjective describing the noun must be feminine plural (buenas, not buena). Treat las vacaciones as an invariable plural noun: always plural, always feminine, always third-person plural with the verb.
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