Do you know...?

Hi everyone, today we are going to look at how to ask a stranger for information or help in a polite way. Now in a direct sentence you might ask:

What time is it?

But this sentence is too direct to ask a stranger passing by on the street, so you might make it a bit more polite:

Excuse me, what time is it?

And this is perfectly fine but to sound a bit nicer you can try:

Do you know what time it is?

That sentence is quite indirect and so more polite, if you want to be even more polite you can say:

Excuse me, do you know what time it is?

So you can see that we you "Do you know...?" to ask polite questions when asking for information.

"Do you know where the post office is?"

"Do you know when the next train is?"

"Do you know how to get to Kiyamachi street?"

Another way of asking for information OR help is by using "Do you have...?" This is most often used in these kinds of sentences:

"Do you have the time?"

"Do you have a pen?" (can I borrow a pen)

"Do you have a light?" (fire to light a cigarette)

These are standard questions where we use "Do you have...?" but most of the time when we want information we use "Do you know...?" because it's much easier~!

Have a great weekend,

Phil