HSK 2 · Common Things

公共汽车 gōnggòng qìchē “bus” in Chinese

Traditional 公共汽車

What 公共汽车 means

  1. bus

Measure word 辆 liàng or 班 bān · 一辆公共汽车 yí liàng gōnggòng qìchē

How to say 公共汽车

  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale公gōng1st tone, high and level
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale共gòng4th tone, falling
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale汽qì4th tone, falling
  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale车chē1st tone, high and level

公共汽车 in a sentence

  1. 太晚了，公共汽车已经开走了。

    Tài wǎn le, gōnggòng qìchē yǐjīng kāizǒu le.

    It’s too late. The bus has already left.

    Sentence #9833737 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 公共汽车多久发车一次？

    Gōnggòng qìchē duōjiǔ fāchē yí cì?

    How often does the bus run?

    Sentence #4263850 from Tatoeba

  3. 上下班时间，公共汽车特别拥挤。

    Shàngxiàbān shíjiān, gōnggòng qìchē tèbié yōngjǐ.

    Buses are especially crowded at peak hour.

    Sentence #5147509 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 公共汽车 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 公 (gōng) with each of its parts in a different colour
公gōngpublic
  • 八eight · bā
  • 厶private · sī

Memory aidAn old explanation: share out 八 what is private 厶, and it becomes public.

The character 共 (gòng) with each of its parts in a different colour
共gòngcommon
  • 廾two hands · gǒng
  • 一one · yī
  • 八eight · bā

Memory aidTwo hands 廾 holding something up together: together, shared.

The character 汽 (qì) with each of its parts in a different colour
汽qìsteam
  • 氵water form of 水 · shuǐ
  • 气air · qì

Memory aidWater 氵 turned into air 气: steam.

The character 车 (chē) with each of its parts in a different colour
车chēcar
  • 七seven · qī
  • 十ten · shí

Memory aidSimplified from 車: a cart seen from above, with its axle and two wheels.

How to write 公共汽车

公 4 strokes · 共 6 strokes · 汽 7 strokes · 车 4 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

公共汽车 (gōnggòng qìchē) stroke order chart: each stroke of the characters in the order you write them
Stroke order chart for 公共汽车 (gōnggòng qìchē). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 公共汽车

Words with 公

公司gōngsī · company公交车gōngjiāochē · public transport vehicle公斤gōngjīn · kilogram公园gōngyuán · public park办公室bàngōngshì · office公里gōnglǐ · kilometre高速公路gāosùgōnglù · motorway外公wàigōng · grandpa (mother’s father)公元gōngyuán · CE (Common Era)公寓gōngyù · apartment building

Words with 共

一共yígòng · altogether共gòng · altogether共同gòngtóng · common总共zǒnggòng · altogether共鸣gòngmíng · resonance共计gòngjì · to total共和国gònghéguó · republic

Words with 汽

汽车qìchē · car汽油qìyóu · petrol

Words with 车

车chē · car火车huǒchē · train开车kāichē · to drive a car出租车chūzūchē · taxi车站chēzhàn · rail station打车dǎchē · to take a taxi (in town)火车站huǒchēzhàn · train station公交车gōngjiāochē · public transport vehicle汽车qìchē · car自行车zìxíngchē · bike

More words: Everyday Things

雪xuě · snow问题wèntí · question事情shìqing · matter颜色yánsè · colour意思yìsi · meaning船chuán · a boat护照hùzhào · passport辆liàng · mw for vehicles

FAQs

公共汽车 (gōnggòng qìchē) means “bus”. It is an HSK 2 word, so it is one of the words learners meet early.
Say it gōnggòng qìchē: gōng with a 1st tone, then gòng with a 4th tone, then qì with a 4th tone, then chē with a 1st tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
In Traditional characters, used in Taiwan and Hong Kong, 公共汽车 is written 公共汽車. The pronunciation is the same.
Use 辆 (liàng) or 班 (bān). For example, one bus is 一辆公共汽车 (yí liàng gōnggòng qìchē).
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type gonggongqiche with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 公共汽车 from the suggestions. Typing gonggongqiche into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
公共汽车 is an HSK 2 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

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Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.