Name: How to ask for and give directions in English
Uploaded: 2021-11-25T18:01:00.000Z
Duration: 16 min 55 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

Hi, everybody. Welcome to www.engvid.com. I'm Adam. In today's

To-infinitive

video, I want to show you ways to ask for and give directions. For example, if

Present continuous

you're going to travel to another country; or travelers are in your city,

and they need some help — you can help them. It's a little bit of a beginner

lesson, so I'll speak a little bit more slowly. And I'm going to give you a set

of questions, I'm going to give you some vocabulary. And the most important thing

you need to understand is the verbs that you're going to have to use in order to

help somebody find their way. And I'll look at those in a moment. So, we're

going to start with the questions. Now, again, in English — just as in any other

language — there are many ways to ask for anything, really. Right? But these

are the main questions that you need to know, in order to get directions and in

order to understand someone who needs directions from you.

So, the more common... most common question is: "How can I get to..."

whatever place it is. "How can I get to the train station?", "How can I get to

the museum?", "How can I get to" whatever is a tourist attraction in a

city; your city, other cities, etcetera. Or, more direct: "Where is something?"

Now, a little bit, you have to keep in mind that if you're in certain

countries... for example, in Canada, you can't really go up to a person and say:

"Where is the train station?" Canadians are a little bit more polite, I guess

you could say; a little bit softer, so it's better to have an indirect

question, like this one: "Can you tell me where something is?" Or: "Can you

tell me how to get to?" Now, very important to remember: If you're asking

a direct question, like just the question: "Where is the place?" If

you're asking an indirect question, this is actually the question word: "Can" or

"Do". So, this is now turned into a noun clause. Right? So, then: "where

something is", and the "is" comes after the place you're going to. The "is"

comes before the place you're going to, so make sure you understand the correct

structure of the question. And... but, ideally, use the indirect question; it's

a little bit softer, a little bit more polite. So: "Can you tell me how to get

to the train station?", "Do you know where the train station is?" Or you can

use both of these clauses with either question. Now, another way to ask is:

"What's the fastest way to get to...?" You don't actually even have to use: "to

get". "What's the fastest way to the train station?" is okay. But "to get"

makes it a little bit more clear. And when you ask someone: "What's the

fastest way?" they understand that you want directions, and they will explain

to you how to get to the place. Now, very, very important that you study

these words. Okay? All of these are prepositions of place. You must

understand how they are used and when they are used in order to understand

directions. So, when someone is explaining it to you, they're going to

use all of these words; and a few other things that I'll mention in a moment.

So, I kind of ran out of room, so I put "past" at the top. But "past": "Go past

the first building, and the second building is the one you want." So,

"past" means, like, after — that's one. "At or on the corner of A Street and B

Street". "At the corner" means general area; "on the corner" means a specific

corner. But, again, that's a different lesson altogether. Both of these will

work just fine. "Kitty corner". So, "kitty corner" is basically when you

have a situation. So, you... you have an intersection. Okay? If something is

here, this is "kitty corner" — the opposite corner. This is simply across

the street. This is "kitty corner", when you're going in a diagonal. Okay? So,

that's important to remember. Not everybody uses this particular

expression, but some people might use it; it's good to understand it. "Next

to", so "next to"; "beside" — same idea. "Near". "Near" is a little bit vague, so

try not to use: "near" or "close to", but sometimes it's good enough, and

you'll understand why in a moment. "Not far from" — same. "In front of", "in

front of", "behind", obviously. "Across the street from". So, "across the street

from" something. "Between the bank and the library is the building you're

looking for." So, "between" two things. Make sure you always remember:

"Between", "and" go together, when you're talking about relationship of

place. "On the left" or "on the right". So: "If you're walking down the street,

you will see that store on your right; you will see that store on your left",

Where are we? So, now, if you come to North America, for example — Canada, the

US — most of the cities here are based on a grid. A "grid" means that streets

go one, two, three, four; one, two, three, four. It's very much like a

Tic-Tac-Toe map; looks like. In Europe, streets go, like, bendy and winding, and

all over the place. So, in Europe, they don't really use: "to the north", "to

the east", "west", etcetera. In North America, they use this a lot because

it's much easier to explain: "Go north on Fifth Avenue, head east on Eighth

Street, and you'll get to where you're going." So, we use: "north", "east",

"south", and "west" a lot, so make sure you understand how these directions

work. Mainly, what you need to understand is: Where is north? So, when

you're standing on a street, always try to get an idea of: "Where is north?" and

then you know all the other ones. It's... this is called: "orientation".

So, when you go to a new city, become oriented with the layout of the... of

the map; of the grid. Always get a map, figure out: "Which way is north?" and

then you'll start to understand. So, "to the north" means in the direction of

north, "on the west side". So, sometimes somebody will say something is "at the

intersection", but you want to be more specific, so they'll... they will tell

you: "It's on the northwest side of the intersection", because there are four.

So, if they want to specify... For example, if you're looking for a store,

but the store doesn't have a sign on the street — it's inside a building, for

example — so you'll say: "The store is on the buil-... is inside the building

on the northwest corner, in the basement. Go there, and you'll find it

no problem." Okay? So, you must understand all of these words in order

to give and receive instructions and directions. Now, most importantly, you

have to get comfortable with the verbs. So, let's look at those next.

Okay. So, now, we actually get to the hard part; this is where people

sometimes get lost. Because, remember: If you are giving instructions, you can

stick to one or two verbs, and just use it over and over again, and people will

understand. But when you are the one asking for instructions, and you're

asking a native-English speaker, there's many ways to describe or to give

directions to describe how to get somewhere. So, be a little bit more

aware of all the different ways we can actually give you directions. So, we're

going to look at verbs. Now, mostly, we're going to start with anything that

is "walkable". What this means is you can actually walk to the place; it's not

very far. Some places are too far; you may need to take a bus, or a subway, or

a taxi, etcetera. So, if it's walkable, just give them very simple directions.

"Head" or "go". "Head" and "go" are both verbs, and they essentially mean the

same thing. "Head straight" — just basically go straight; means the same

idea. "Head up" or "down", and the name of the street, if you know the name.