Asking for Directions: Master English Conversations for Navigating Anywhere

Hello again, and let's practice asking for directions. Maybe you move to a new city, or you're visiting a country you've never visited before, and you need to know your way around. The grammar we'll be using in this lesson will be indirect questions. We will do a few kinds of indirect questions, but today's lesson will focus on a few forms in particular. So, you may have seen this before. A question that sounds like, Do you know what time it is? The basic structure of this question is an indirect phrase with a WH word or IF, a subject, and a statement clause. The statement clause is basically just the rest of the sentence, and usually it's in the form of a direct sentence. If you're wondering why you need to use this grammar, the most common uses are to sound more polite when you're talking to a stranger, or someone who you don't know very well, and you want to be a polite person. The second reason would be asking a big favor of someone, but we're going to take a look at that later. If you need some more reasons, the reasons why you need to use indirect questions are maybe the person you're asking doesn't know the answer, or they may not have time, they're running to an appointment, and you don't want to bother them, and most importantly, you don't want to sound too aggressive to a stranger on the street, for example. Starting with the most basic indirect questions, you generally use the phrase, Do you know? And you can use this in two ways. The first way, you use with WH questions, so who, what, where, when, why, and how questions. The second, you'll use with if and whether. So, do you know if or do you know whether? Although, if is more common for yes or no questions. So, jumping right in, let's practice do you know with WH questions. You know a simple question is formed like this, Where is the bathroom? But an indirect question, Do you know where the bathroom is? So, the verb to be, which is is, is changing position in the indirect question. Where is the bathroom? Do you know where the bathroom is? So, let's try do you know if or whether. These are for yes or no questions. So, for example, the simple question, Is there a post office near here? The answer would be yes or no. So, for the indirect question, we will use if or whether. But let's use if because it's more common. Do you know if there is a post office near here? Now, notice how is now comes after there. Just like a regular sentence. Right now, you might be a little bit confused with how to form the indirect question. But I have a very simple way to think of them. So, the first sentence here is a question and an answer in simple form. So, where is the bathroom? The bathroom is down the hall. So, for an indirect question, all you have to do is put do you know, take the WH question from the first question, and use the regular answer format for the rest of the question. So, do you know where the bathroom is? Yes, it's down the hall. One exception in this situation is when you're using indirect questions with do, does, and did. Let's look at two examples. The first one, the direct question, when does the bar open? Now, remember, in the indirect question, the second part of the question should be the same sentence structure as the answer. So, do you know when the bar opens? The answer is it opens at 11. The bar opens at 11. Do you know when the bar opens? And we get rid of does completely. The second situation, what does he do for a living? There are two kinds of the verb do in here. But remember, in the indirect question, you're using the answer form. So, do you know what he does for a living? He does some kind of investing. So, remember, the indirect form, the second part of the question, we use a standard answer form. Up until now, we've only used the first example, do you know, as the first part of an indirect question. But there are other kinds of ways to ask this question. And good news, they all use the same form. So, you could say, do you know? Could you tell me? Or can you tell me? Could you tell me is a little more formal and can you tell me is a little more casual. Let's look at some examples of this. So, these are three direct questions. And we want to change them into indirect questions. These questions, as they are, are fine, although they might sound a little bit aggressive or direct when you're talking to a stranger. So, what time are they meeting? Which way is the station? When does the shop open? All of these are a little bit direct. So, let's make these questions sound a little bit less direct. So, what time are they meeting? Becomes, do you know what time they are meeting? Again, with the simple answer form in the second half of the question. Which way is the station? Becomes, can you tell me which way the station is? When does the shop open? Remember, this is a does question. So, we take out does altogether. Do you know when the shop opens? These are all very polite. So, we've taken a look at some WH questions in the indirect form. So, let's practice some yes or no questions. Remember, these are if questions in the indirect form. So, these three questions are a bit direct if you're talking to a stranger. Is there a drugstore near here? Is it going to rain today? Are they going to close early for the holiday? So, in these indirect question forms, I've chosen to use both if and whether. You can choose whatever one you prefer, but again, if is a little bit more common. So, is there a drugstore near here? Becomes, do you know if there's a drugstore near here? Which sounds a little softer and more polite if you are talking to a stranger. Is it going to rain today? Do you know whether it's going to rain today? So, perhaps you saw a stranger carrying an umbrella in your travels and you did not see that there was any rain expected. So, maybe you'd ask that person. Are they going to close early for the holiday? Maybe you'd like to go to a bar and you're not sure if they're open. Do you know if they're going to close early for the holiday? So, we've now practiced indirect questions with WH words, indirect questions with if, and now, there is actually also a way to answer with an indirect statement. So, if someone asks an indirect question, like, do you know where the stadium is and what time it opens? You might say, sure, it's behind Union Station, but sorry, I don't know what time it opens. Now, notice the form is the same as forming an indirect question. So, I don't know is like, do you know, and what time, and it opens. So, the rest of the sentence in red is the same structure as a standard answer form. It's practice time. So, here's an example situation that you might find yourself in in a different country or a different place. So, you might stop a stranger on the street to ask for some directions to the nearest drugstore. So, notice I've put direct questions in brackets after the blanks. So, hi, sorry to bother you. And then, is there a drugstore near here? Now, take a second and try to make these direct questions into nice, polite-sounding indirect questions. Okay. So, you can use either do you know, could you tell me, or can you tell me for these. So, let's see what we did. Hi, sorry to bother you. Could you tell me if there's a drugstore near here? There's one down the street, next to the bank. Thanks, and do you know what time it closes? Sorry, I don't know when it closes. So, notice that in the first, it was a yes or no question. There is a drugstore near here, or there isn't a drugstore near here. Do you know what time it closes? Remember, that's a does. And we took out the does and used a basic sentence for it closes. Sorry, I don't know when it closes. And this is the exact same as the previous sentence, except it's an answer. Let's try one more situation, and a conversation. So, imagine you've just arrived in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. And you've got off the train, and you're having a conversation with the information helper at a kiosk in a train station. So, let's transform all of these questions that are direct into indirect questions. Where is the stadium? Is there a game today? Do I need to buy tickets in advance? Alright, let's put this all together. So, the first answer is, could you tell me where the stadium is? Again, if you put do you know where the stadium is, that is also fine. Now, in this situation, that was a WH question. And so, here we have, of course, it's just behind the Union Station. Thanks, do you know if there's a game today? So, the question was, is there a game today? Which the answer would be yes or no. So, here we use if. And the last one, do you know if I need to buy tickets in advance? Again, a yes or no question. And a simple answer. So, let's put this all together. Hi there, could you tell me where the stadium is? Of course, it's just behind Union Station. Thanks, do you know if there's a game today? Yes, I think it's the Blue Jays versus the Red Sox. Awesome, do you know if I need to buy tickets in advance? No, I think you can buy them at the door. So, in this situation, it's a baseball game. And this information guide has helped us answer all of our questions. Amazing job forming interactions, and I hope you feel confident enough to ask a stranger for directions in a new place. I'll see you in the next lesson.