Goodmorning everyone, i'm a tutor/student in italki. Recently i'm learning english, but i have a single qustion.

I was born and raised in korea, if i met a foreigner tries to pay a transportation fee in the bus, but it turns out that expenses in his/her card is not suffiecient,

Can i say "you need to charge your card"?
I'm curious People from english speaking countries could understand this phrase? 🤔

Question

Goodmorning everyone, i'm a tutor/student in italki. Recently i'm learning english, but i have a single qustion.

I was born and raised in korea, if i met a foreigner tries to pay a transportation fee in the bus, but it turns out that expenses in his/her card is not suffiecient,

Can i say "you need to charge your card"?
I'm curious People from english speaking countries could understand this phrase? 🤔

Answer

Good morning, Sangmin.

If someone’s card doesn’t have enough money to pay for the bus, you could say, "You need to top up your card" or "You need to add money to your card." Saying "charge your card" might be a bit confusing because "charge" usually means making a payment. But with "top up" or "add money," people will definitely understand what you mean!

Answer

No, this is wrong. "Charge your card" means "take money from your card". "Charge up your card" would be more understandable as increasing the power of the card, but still, we don't say it. We would say more explicitly something like "You need to add money to your card" or more politely (less bossy) "It seems your card is out of funds".

Answer

There are lots of ways to say this. Here are a few more.

You need to refill your card. 
You need to add funds to your card. 
You need to make a deposit to your card.

Answer

Just say it like you explained to us.
“Your card is insufficient”
“Your card has not enough money”