Excuse me, would you happen to know where the nearest coffee shops is? Huh!? Would you
happen to know? Does that just mean do you know? Let’s find out. What’s up guys?
My name is Shane and today we are talking about asking for and giving directions in
English. This is a very important topic for students learning English because many students
learn English to go travelling or to study in a different country. And I’m sure you
already know basic phrases like go straight, turn right, turn left. So today I am going
to teach you basic phrases you can use to ask for and give directions like a native
speaker. So make sure you watch until the end of the video so you know how to ask for
directions like a native speaker and so you know how to give directions like a native
speaker. Okay, let’s get started. Let’s pretend you are in Australia and you’re
looking for the Sydney train station. You’re on the street and there are many Australian
people walking towards you. And you want to stop one of them to ask them for directions.
I know you know how to say where is the train station. That’s very basic stuff, right?
Everybody knows that. But what are some phrases that you can use to stop someone for directions
and ask them? The first one is: excuse me, do you know where the train station is? Excuse
me, do you know where the train station is? It's very important that you say excuse me
first. Because if you don't, the person you're talking to might not realize that you are
talking to them and they might just walk right past you. And after we say excuse me, we say
do you know where the train station is? Do you know where the train station is? This
is a more polite way than just saying where is the train station? Because if you just
say where is the train station, it sounds a little bit, not polite. It's more polite
to say excuse me, do you know where the train station is? And when native speakers say this
really fast, it sounds like this. Scuse me, djyuh know where the train station is? We
don't say excuse me, we just say scuse me. We don't say do you. We say djyuh know where
the train station is? Scuse me, djyuh know where the train station is? Now you try. Scuse
me, djyuh know where the train station is? The second phrase is: excuse me, would you
happen to know where the train station is? Excuse me, would you happen to know where
the train station is? Remember, it's very important to say excuse me at the start so
the person stops and knows you are talking to them. And would you happen to know, it
just means do you know? It's just a more polite way to say do you know? And when a native
speaker says this really quickly, it sounds like this. Scuse me, wouldjyuh happen to know
where the train station is? We don't say excuse me again. We say scuse me. And we don't say
would you, we say wouldjyuh. Wouldjyuh. Scuse me, wouldjyuh happen to know where the train
station is? Now you try. Scuse me, wouldjyuh happen to know where the train station is?
And the third phrase native speakers often use to ask for directions is: Excuse me, I'm
looking for the train station. Do you know where it is? Excuse me, I'm looking for the
train station. Do you know where it is? Remember, very important to say excuse me. And I'm looking
for the train station. Do you know where it is? It's just a more polite and longer way
to say do you know where the train station is? And when a native speaker says this really
quickly it sounds like this. Scuse me, I'm lookin' for the train station. Djyuh know
where it is? Scuse me, I'm lookin' for the train station. Djyuh know where it is? We
don't say excuse me again. We say scuse me. We don't say I'm looking. We say I'm lookin'.
I'm lookin'. And we don't say do you know. We say djyuh know? Djyuh know? So it sounds
like this. Scuse me, I'm lookin' for the train station. Djyuh know where it is? Now you try.
Scuse me, I'm lookin' for the train station. Djyuh know where it is? Okay now we know how
to ask for directions in English like a native speaker. But how do we give directions in
English like a native speaker. What would you say if someone came up to you and said:
excuse me, would you happen to know where the train station is? The first thing a native
speaker will say is probably yes or no, right? So if the native speaker wants to say no,
he will probably say something like: No, sorry. I don’t know where it is. You might have
to ask someone else. No, sorry. I don’t know where it is. You might have to ask someone
else. But if you the native speakers wants to say yes, they will normally start by saying
how far they think it is. So they might say something like: yes, it’s about a 5 minute
walk from here. Or yes, it’s about a 10 minute taxi ride from here. Or yes, it’s
about 5 minutes on the train. And then after that, they will start to give you directions.
And I know you know how to say go straight in English. But native speakers sometimes
say different expressions to describe going straight. The first one is go along. Go along.
For example, go along the road. This just means follow the road. So if the road turns
right, then you turn right. If the road turns left, then you turn left. Another way to say
go straight is follow the road. Follow the road. So you could say follow this road for
100 meters so that means the same as go along. If the road turns right, then you turn right.
If the road turns left, then you turn left. And another phrase that native speakers like
to use is go straight up the road. Go straight up the road. This just means go straight,
follow the road. And when native speakers are giving directions like this, normally
they will give you a time or a distance. So they might say go along the road for about
100 meters or walk straight up the road for about 300 meters or follow the road until
you get to a really big intersection. Now I know you know how to say turn left. But
sometimes we don’t need to turn left, we just need to go slightly left, a little bit
to the left. And in this situation, we can say veer left. So now I am going straight
towards the camera. This is veering left, just a little bit to the left. So you could
say something like go straight up the road and then you’ll have to veer left. So this
does not mean turn. It just means slightly go to the left. And this is the same with
turn right. A lot of times you don’t have to turn right, right? You might just have
to go a little bit to the right. So in this situation, again, you can say veer right.
So for example I could say: follow the road for a hundred meters and then veer right.
So that means I follow the road, whichever way the road is going and then I veer right.
I go slightly to the right. And another important word you need to know when giving directions
is past. P A S T. Go past. What does past mean? Well, let me show you. I start here.
I walk until I get to the restaurant. So now I am next to the restaurant. Then I keep walking.
Now have I gone past the restaurant? Yes or no? yes I have. So past means when you go
further than a particular point. So the particular point here is the restaurant but now I have
gone past it. This is a very important word to use when giving directions because a lot
of the time we use things on the street, things on the road to give directions. For example,
go past the intersection or go past the shopping center. And the final phrase we normally use
to finish giving instructions is it’s on your left. Or its on your right. On your left
means if you are looking forward, I am looking forward at the camera right now. So on my
left is to the left. I have to turn left to get there. So I could say: the train station
is on the left or on your left or on your left hand side. All of these phrases are correct
and it means on the left. On the left hand side, to the left. And with the right hand
side, it’s exactly the same. So I am looking at the camera now. On my right hand side is
over here. I have to turn right to get there. So you could say: and the train station is
on your right or on the right. All of these phrases are correct and they just mean the
same thing. You have to turn right to get there. We have learned some new phrases and
words for giving directions but how do we put them together? How do we make sentences
and actually give directions like a native speaker? Well I have seen many infographics
and many pictures and many videos which say when you’re talking about something in a
sequence you must use words like first, then, finally, after, next. But this is simply not
true. Most native speakers when giving directions do not give directions like this. They don’t
say first, you go straight. Then turn left. After that, go straight until you get to the
intersection and finally, your destination is on your left. That’s simply not how native
speakers speak. So if someone asked me, excuse me, would you happen to know where the train
station is? My answer would sound something like this: yeah it’s about a 5 minute walk
from here. Just go straight up this road and when you get to the intersection, turn left.
And then follow the road along for about … about two hundred meters. You will walk past a Chinese
restaurant and then the train station will be on your right hand side. So if you listened
to me just then, I used words like and and and then. I didn’t say first, I didn’t
say finally. I didn’t say next. I didn’t say after that. Most native speakers do not
say these words. Sometimes they do, yes. But a lot of the time they just say and or and