How to buy tickets at any outlet at a train station (huǒ chē zhàn, 火車站) in Mandarin?

We can start off by choosing the type of tickets.

For instance,

你好，我要買一張 (兒童, 敬老, 愛心…) 全票

nǐ hǎo ， wǒ yào mǎi yì zhāng ( ér tóng ,  jìng lǎo ,  ài xīn …) quán piào

Hi, I’d like to buy an (children, senior, concession…) adult ticket.

One way or round trip?

單程 dān chéng ⇒ one-way

來回 lái huí ⇒ round-trip

From where to where?

從…到…

from…to…

從桃園到台南

cóng táo yuán dào tái nán

From Taoyuan to Tainan

Put them together

你好，我要買一張到高雄單程的兒童票

nǐ hǎo ， wǒ yào mǎi yì zhāng dào gāo xióng dān chéng de ér tóng piào

Hi, I’d like to buy a one-way, children ticket going to Kaohsiung.

你好，我要買一張從桃園到台南來回的全票

nǐ hǎo ， wǒ yào mǎi yì zhāng cóng táo yuán dào tái nán lái huí de quán piào

Hi, I’d like to buy a round-trip adult ticket from Taoyuan to Tainan.

They should proceed to ask you to specify the time, but of course you can follow up with when you’re taking the train right away.

Q:

你想要什麼時候出發，(什麼時候回程?) (早上？下午？晚上？)

Nǐ xiǎng yào shěn me shí hòu chū fā ， shěn me shí hòu huí chéng ？( zǎo shàng ？ xià wǔ ？ wǎn shàng ？)

When do you want to leave (come back)? (Morning, afternoon, or evening?)

你想要選幾點的火車？

nǐ xiǎng yào xuǎn jǐ diǎn de huǒ chē ？

What time would you like to choose?

出發 chū fā ⇒ to depart

回程 huí chéng ⇒ to return

You can ask them about the schedule in response to the questions.

(幾號  幾點) 有火車？

(jǐ hào jǐ diǎn) yǒu huǒ chē ？

(幾號 幾點) 有班次？ [班次 bān cì : train (seen as an entry on a schedule)]

(jǐ hào jǐ diǎn) yǒu bān cì ？

(Date/time) when is there going to be a train?

For instance,

Q:

請問7號早上10點左右有火車/班次嗎？

qǐng wèn 7 hào zǎo shàng 10 diǎn zuǒ yòu yǒu huǒ chē/bān cì ma?

Is there a train around 10am on 7^th?

A:

我們7號早上10點35分有一班自強號

wǒ men 7 hào zǎo shàng 10 diǎn 35 fēn yǒu yì bān zì qiáng hào

There’s a zì qiáng hào at 10:35 on 7^th.

There are different types of trains in operation, of which the following three models are most common.

自強號 zì qiáng hào (fast)

莒光號 jü3 guāng hào (average)

區間車（復興號）qü1 jiān chē  (fù xīng hào) (slow)

If you want to choose a particular train, add this:

請問有沒有(自強號)可以搭？

qǐng wèn yǒu méi yǒu (zì qiáng hào) kě yǐ dā?

請問有(自強號)的嗎？

qǐng wèn yǒu (zì qiáng hào) de ma?

Is there a (…) available?