I can buy a ticket to another city at the station, find out when and from which track the train leaves, check in and out with a bank card, understand the departures board, transfers, and signs, and bike to the station.
At the station: the ticket, the card, the track, the transfer
Tickets, checking in with a card, the track, transfers, and signs
A ticket is het kaartje: Een kaartje naar Utrecht, graag. But in 2026 you often don't need one: at the entrance to the platform you hold your bank card (de bankpas) to the reader — that's inchecken. On the way out you do it again — that's uitchecken. Forget to check out and you pay more. The anonymous card de OV-chipkaart is no longer sold.
Departures: Hoe laat vertrekt de bus? · Van welk spoor vertrekt de trein? (van stays in front, not at the end as in English) The board writes the time in figures with a period (14.30); people say it in words: half drie (two thirty).
Changing trains is overstappen: In Utrecht stap je over. The verb inchecken works like English “check in”: Ik check in. But the prefix goes to the end, also in a command: In Leiden check ik uit. · Check in! After moeten and kunnen the verb stays whole, as one word: Wij moeten overstappen. If the train is late, the board says vertraging: De trein heeft tien minuten vertraging.
Signs: Ingang is the entrance, Uitgang the exit. Amsterdam and Rotterdam have a subway (de metro). Many people bike to the station (de fiets).
Common mistakes:
• ×Ik incheck → Ik check in (the prefix goes at the end)
• ×een kaartje in Utrecht → een kaartje naar Utrecht (to another city: naar)
• ×Hoe laat vertrekt bus? → Hoe laat vertrekt de bus?
Departures board
On the board the time is in figures with a period; aloud, it's in words.
| Tijd | Naar | Spoor | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 14.30 | Utrecht | 5 | — |
| 14.45 | Amsterdam | 7 | 10 minuten vertraging |
| 15.15 | Den Haag | 3 | overstappen in Leiden |
Lesson notes
Tickets, checking in with a card, the track, transfers, and signs
A ticket is het kaartje: Een kaartje naar Utrecht, graag. But in 2026 you often don't need one: at the entrance to the platform you hold your bank card (de bankpas) to the reader — that's inchecken. On the way out you do it again — that's uitchecken. Forget to check out and you pay more. The anonymous card de OV-chipkaart is no longer sold.
Departures: Hoe laat vertrekt de bus? · Van welk spoor vertrekt de trein? (van stays in front, not at the end as in English) The board writes the time in figures with a period (14.30); people say it in words: half drie (two thirty).
Changing trains is overstappen: In Utrecht stap je over. The verb inchecken works like English “check in”: Ik check in. But the prefix goes to the end, also in a command: In Leiden check ik uit. · Check in! After moeten and kunnen the verb stays whole, as one word: Wij moeten overstappen. If the train is late, the board says vertraging: De trein heeft tien minuten vertraging.
Signs: Ingang is the entrance, Uitgang the exit. Amsterdam and Rotterdam have a subway (de metro). Many people bike to the station (de fiets).
Common mistakes:
• ×Ik incheck → Ik check in (the prefix goes at the end)
• ×een kaartje in Utrecht → een kaartje naar Utrecht (to another city: naar)
• ×Hoe laat vertrekt bus? → Hoe laat vertrekt de bus?