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Glite Dictionary
to ride tandem

to ride tandem

4.8
To travel on a bicycle with one person sitting behind another
  • phrasal verb
  • /raɪd ˈtændəm/
translation icon : montar en tándem
  • On their vacation, the couple rented a bicycle so they could ride tandem along the beach.

Examples

  • They decided to ride tandem to the park to enjoy each other's company.

  • Yesterday morning I dragged myself out of bed to go for a ride on my bike with one of my best friends who is riding tandem with me in the 94.7 for Mands, and when I got back I felt so good and I knew that just the thought of YOU (Mands) and your brave attitude lifted my spirit so high!

    Blog text (3)

  • My sister and I love to ride tandem on our bicycle during the weekends.

Surface Forms

ride tandem infinitive
rode tandem past
riding tandem present participle
rides tandem third person singular
ridden tandem past participle

Morphology

ride + tandem

The meaning 'to ride with one person seated directly behind another' is directly and compositionally derived from 'ride' (to be carried on a vehicle) plus 'tandem' (a bicycle with seats one behind another). This combination follows a transparent, literal logic (and parallels constructions in other languages), so a B1 learner who knows both constituents can reasonably infer the MWE's meaning.

Etymology

Ride tandem comes from the tandem bicycle: to ride a tandem means two people sit one behind the other and pedal together. So it now means 'to ride with someone seated directly behind you', often needing good teamwork.