to ride (a vehicle)
HSK level
乘坐 is written with 17 strokes (乘: 10, 坐: 7). The animation replays automatically.
乘坐 (chéngzuò) is a verb meaning 'to ride' or 'to travel by' a vehicle — a bus, train, plane, boat, or elevator: 乘坐地铁 ('take the subway'), 乘坐飞机 ('travel by plane').
It always takes a means of transport as its object. English speakers should note that 乘坐 is the formal, written counterpart of the everyday 坐 ('to sit / to ride'); you hear 乘坐 in public-transport announcements, on tickets, and in polite notices ('passengers riding this train, please...'), while in ordinary conversation people simply say 坐地铁 or 坐飞机.
The characters combine 乘 ('to ride/mount') and 坐 ('to sit'). It is neutral-to-formal in register and used almost exclusively with vehicles, not for riding animals (that is 骑, qí, for bikes and horses).
Note: More formal than the everyday 坐. Common in announcements, signs, tickets, and polite or written instructions ('passengers riding this flight'); in casual speech people usually just say 坐.
Character by character
Memory hook: 乘 (ride) + 坐 (sit): to ride while seated — the formal way to say you take a vehicle.
请不要在乘坐地铁时吃东西。
Qǐng búyào zài chéngzuò dìtiě shí chī dōngxi.
Please do not eat while riding the subway.
written
我们乘坐火车去上海。
Wǒmen chéngzuò huǒchē qù Shànghǎi.
We're taking the train to Shanghai.
neutral
乘坐飞机比坐火车快多了。
Chéngzuò fēijī bǐ zuò huǒchē kuài duō le.
Traveling by plane is much faster than by train.
neutral
欢迎乘坐本次列车。
Huānyíng chéngzuò běn cì lièchē.
Welcome aboard this train.
written
坐 is the everyday, spoken word for taking a vehicle (坐车 'take a car/bus'). 乘坐 means the same but is formal and written, heard in announcements and signs. Use 坐 in casual conversation.
乘 alone ('to ride/take') is also formal and appears in compounds like 乘客 ('passenger') and 乘飞机. 乘坐 is the fuller two-character verb; 乘 is more common inside set phrases.
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