Probably one of the hardest things to learn in a foreign language are pronouns because they never “translate” one for one. English has a complicated relationship when it comes to transportation and pronouns and the only way to learn it is just to memorize it. If you try to understand why someone is “in” a car but “on” a bus you’ll just go insane and your head will explode, so don’t even try it.

While the following list is extensive, it is not necessarily exhaustive :)

Modes of Transport that use “on”

• bus
• plane
• boat/ship
• submarine
• horse
• bicycle
• ice/roller skates
• roller blades
• foot (pe jos)
• motorcycle
• skis
• camel
• elephant
• burro
• scooter
• sled
• ATV
• tractor
• lawn mower
• ostrich
• pogo stick
• llama

Modes of Transport that use “in”

• car
• truck
• van
• wagon
• belly of a whale
• cart
• (stage)coach
• balloon
• parachute
• a (dead) run
• bulldozer
• go-kart
• spacecraft
• flying saucer/UFO
• bobsled
• Santa’s sleigh

AND NOW YOU KNOW!