Korean Subway and Bus: Transfer and Exit Numbers

Not the street map

Asking the way owns the pavement: 어디예요, 직진, 왼쪽. A subway or bus ride is a different map. You name a line, you change, and you leave by an exit number.

People will not give you a left-right speech on the platform. They will say 2호선, 갈아타요, 3번 출구.

Where the change happens

시청역에서 갈아타요.
sicheongyeogeseo garatayo — I change at City Hall Station.

에서 marks the station as the place the action happens. You stand there and switch. 시청역에 갈아타요 points at the station as a destination and sounds unfinished, as if the change still needs a line.

2호선으로 갈아타요.
i hoseoneuro garatayo — I transfer onto line 2.

으로 marks the line you take. It is the same particle as 왼쪽으로 on the street, now attached to a numbered line instead of a side.

호선 is the word for a subway line. 몇 호선이에요? asks which one. The answer is 2호선이에요, not 두 호선. Line numbers sit with Sino-Korean, the set that also reads dates and minutes.

Exit numbers, then the bus

Maps and store pages in Korea list a station plus a number: 3번 출구. Ask 몇 번 출구예요? Leave with 3번 출구로 나가세요. 로 is again the path you take, this time out of the gate.

다음 역에 내려요.
daeum yeoge naeryeoyo — I get off at the next station.

에 marks the stop you get off at. 타요 is get on. 내려요 is get off. The pair works on a train and on a bus.

A bus stop is a 정류장. 이 버스 시청 가요? checks the route before you tap in. The driver will often just nod or say 네. 여기서 내려요 tells the driver this is your stop — 에서, because here is where the getting-off happens. If you stay silent, the bus may not stop at a request stop.

몇 정거장 남았어요? asks how many stops remain. The answer is often 두 정거장요, with the native number that counts things you can point at. You do not need a left-right speech while the train is moving.

If you remember one split: the street page aims you with left and right. This page names a line, a station you change at, and a numbered door out.