乗る / 降りる — Getting On and Off
The verbs for boarding (乗る) and getting off (降りる) a vehicle take specific particles: に乗る (get on) but を降りる (get off).
Structure
[Vehicle] + に + 乗る | [Vehicle] + を + 降りる
Examples
バスに乗ってください。
Basu ni notte kudasai.
Please get on the bus.
バス (bus) + に (target boarded) + 乗ってください (please board)
次の駅で電車を降ります。
Tsugi no eki de densha o orimasu.
I'll get off the train at the next station.
次の駅で (at the next station — place of action) + 電車を (the train, exited) + 降ります (get off)
毎朝七時の電車に乗ります。
Maiasa shichiji no densha ni norimasu.
I take the seven o'clock train every morning.
電車 (train) + に (target boarded) + 乗ります — boarding always takes に, never を
• に for boarding: 乗る moves you INTO/onto a target, so it takes に (バスに乗る). • を for exiting: 降りる moves you OUT of the vehicle, so the vehicle takes を (電車を降りる) — を marks the place you leave. • Taxi note: use 乗る for cars/taxis too, even though English says 'get IN' a car and 'get ON' a bus — Japanese doesn't distinguish by size.
Commonly confused with
The JLPT rarely asks whether you recognise a pattern — it asks which of several similar patterns fits. These are the ones 乗る is tested against.
vs に乗る vs を降りる
Boarding takes に (the target you enter). Getting off takes を (the space you exit). Mixing them up — バスを乗る or 電車に降りる — is a classic mistake.
More particles
- が (ga) — Subject Marker & Exhaustive Listing
- を (o) — Direct Object & Traversal
- に (ni) — Target, Time, and Existence Location
- で (de) — Context of Action (Location, Means, Condition)
- と (to) — And (Exhaustive), With, and Quotation
- か (ka) — Question, Or, and Uncertain Identity
- の (no) — Possession, Modification, & Nominalization
- も (mo) — Also, Too, Both/And, Emphasized Quantity
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