I'd appreciate if you tell me what is the right way to say my bike/motorbike/car's tire is running out of air and needs to be filled with air again in English.
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2It might be said to be "going flat".– Andrew Leach ♦May 7, 2016 at 19:36
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@AndrewLeach And how would you say it needs to be refilled?– MoriMay 7, 2016 at 19:49
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1"It's going flat and I need to get it pumped up" or "...and I need to pump it up."– Andrew Leach ♦May 7, 2016 at 20:08
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1Simply saying "need air" and pointing at the vehicle would get the point across in most cases.– Hot LicksMay 7, 2016 at 23:03
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3 Answers
We say the tire pressure is low. Also, if the tire is punctured, we say it is a "flat" or is "deflated."
To get the air into the tire we say that we need to put air into it, pump air into it, inflate or fill it.
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1@Mori (while bicycling) "We have to stop at that service station; I need some air."– MazuraMay 7, 2016 at 22:44
In the UK, it's common to say a tyre (note the spelling!) is going flat.
If it needs to be refilled, a common expression might be "It's going flat and I need to get it pumped up" or "...and I need to pump it up".
We don't normally mention "air" explicitly, because it's a given that tyres are supposed to be full of air under pressure. And we use pump because — despite the ubiquity of garage air lines — the mental image is of one of these:
answered May 7, 2016 at 20:14
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1Going flat is pretty common in AmE also, in my experience. I also hear pump it up but I think fill it up might be more common. A garage air line is just as much a pump as the item in the image. It is just powered by electricity rather than muscles. May 8, 2016 at 4:50
You can say it's flat, deflated, in need of inflating or inflation, low, low on air, needs to be pumped up, needs a pump, needs filling, or the pressure/tire pressure is low.
