Taking a Taxi

Your ride is waiting. This conversation teaches you to handle a complete taxi ride in Spanish, from the moment the driver asks where you're headed to the goodbye at your doorstep.

What you'll learn

Riding along with a traveler and her taxi driver, you'll pick up dozens of useful words and phrases for real trips: giving your destination, asking about the fare, paying by card or cash, making small talk on the road, asking locals for recommendations, and telling the driver exactly where to stop. The same vocabulary works far beyond the taxi, whether you're taking a rideshare in Lima, asking a receptionist for directions, or chatting with anyone curious about your travels.

How the practice works

Each quiz plays out like a chat on your phone. You follow the conversation line by line, assembling sentences word by word as it unfolds, so you practice reading and word order at the same time. Every line is recorded by native Spanish speakers, which turns each session into listening practice too. Sessions are short, so you can squeeze one in while you wait for your coffee, and you can repeat any quiz whenever you want a refresher.

The verb that changes meaning across the ocean

Here's a detail worth knowing before you travel: in Spain people commonly say coger un taxi to mean catching a cab, but in most of Latin America coger has a vulgar meaning, so everyone says tomar un taxi instead. It's one of the most famous vocabulary splits in the Spanish-speaking world, and using tomar will mark you as a well-prepared traveler anywhere from Mexico to Argentina.