| English | ES — Spanish | CA — Catalan | PT — Portuguese |
|---|---|---|---|
| A single ticket to the centre, please. | Un billete sencillo al centro, por favor. oon bee-YEH-teh · sen-SEE-yo · al SEN-troh · por fah-VOR |
Un bitllet senzill al centre, si us plau. oon beet-YET · sen-ZEEL · al SEN-truh · see oos PLAU |
Um bilhete simples para o centro, por favor. oon bee-LYEH-tuh · SEEM-plush · pruh oo SEN-troo · por fah-VOR |
| Where can I buy tickets? | ¿Dónde puedo comprar billetes? DON-deh · PWEH-doh · kom-PRAR · bee-YEH-tehs |
On puc comprar bitllets? on pook · kom-PRAR · beet-YETS |
Onde posso comprar bilhetes? ON-duh · POH-soo · kom-PRAR · bee-LYEH-tush |
| How much is a ten-trip card? | ¿Cuánto cuesta un bono de diez viajes? KWAN-toh · KWES-tah · oon BOH-noh · deh dee-ETH · vee-AH-hehs |
Quant costa una targeta de deu viatges? kwan KOS-tah · OO-nah tar-ZHEH-tah · deh DEH-oo · vee-AT-jus |
Quanto custa um passe de dez viagens? KWAN-too · KOOSH-tah · oon PAH-suh · deh DESH · vee-AH-zhaysh |
| Does this train go to the city centre? | ¿Este tren va al centro? ES-teh TREN · va al SEN-troh |
Aquest tren va al centre? ah-KET TREN · va al SEN-truh |
Este comboio vai para o centro? ESH-tuh kom-BOY-oo · vai pruh oo SEN-troo |
| Which platform does it leave from? | ¿De qué andén sale? deh keh · ahn-DEN · SAH-leh |
De quina andana surt? deh KEE-nah · ahn-DAH-nah · soort |
De que cais parte? deh keh · KAISH · PAR-tuh |
| Do I have to validate the ticket? | ¿Tengo que validar el billete? TEN-goh keh · bah-lee-DAR · el bee-YEH-teh |
He de validar el bitllet? eh deh · bah-lee-DAH · el beet-YET |
Tenho de validar o bilhete? TEH-nyoo deh · vah-lee-DAR · oo bee-LYEH-tuh |
Madrid (ES): the metro runs on the rechargeable Tarjeta Multi (€2.50 for the card itself, then load trips or a Zone-A abono). You can't buy a paper single anymore — everything loads onto the card, and singles get pricier the more metro zones you cross.
Barcelona (CA): the workhorse is the T-casual — 10 journeys, one person, non-shareable since the old shareable T-10 was retired in 2020. If you're travelling with Leen, the T-familiar is the shareable one. Validate at the orange machines at every transfer.
Lisbon (PT): buy the green Viva Viagem / Navegante card once (€0.50), then load zapping credit or single trips onto it. Tapping in is mandatory on the metro and the trams.
Rule for the trip: day one in each city, buy the rechargeable card and load it — never queue twice for a paper single.
billete / bitllet / bilhete. All three came from French billet (ultimately Latin bulla, a sealed document), and all three palatalise the middle consonant — but spell it differently: Spanish -ll-, Catalan -tll-, Portuguese -lh-. Same /ʎ/ sound inherited from Latin, three orthographies. In modern Castilian yeísmo flattens it further to a plain y sound (bee-YEH-teh).
comprar is identical across all three — straight from Latin comparare ('to acquire, compare'). Commerce verbs tend to survive untouched across the western Romance languages because trade kept the Vulgar-Latin core alive.
andén vs cais. Here the cognate chain breaks: ES and CA use andén / andana (an old Iberian borrowing), while Portuguese reaches for cais — the same root as English 'quay,' a Celtic-via-French word for a loading edge. A reminder that everyday nouns are exactly where the three languages diverge most.
Tap to mark. State persists to localStorage. (Server-side persistence and SRS resurfacing will land via the C3 SRS skill in Sprint 4.)