Places in Town and Directions
Learn 20 easy A1 English words for places in town and giving directions - street, market, library, turn left, opposite - with a story and a quiz.
Two skills live in this lesson: naming the places in a town, and telling somebody how to get to one. The second is the harder one, and it is the one that gets you out of trouble in a strange city. Learn the 20 words, then walk down the only main street in my town, where everything anyone needs is in a straight line.
20 words to learn
The 20 words
/taʊn/
A place with houses, shops and streets – smaller than a city.
I grew up in a small town.
/ˈsɪti/
A very big town.
Amman is the biggest city in Jordan.
/striːt/
A road in a town, with buildings on both sides.
They live on the same street as us.
/ʃɒp/
A place where you buy things. Americans say store.
There is a small shop on the corner.
/ˈmɑːkɪt/
An open place where many people sell food and things.
The market opens at six in the morning.
/bæŋk/
The building where you keep and take out money.
I need to go to the bank before two.
/ˈpəʊst ɒfɪs/
Where you send letters and packages.
The post office is closed on Friday.
/skuːl/
Where children go to learn.
My old school is behind the mosque.
/pɑːk/
A green public place with grass and trees.
We walk in the park every evening.
/ˈlaɪbrəri/
The building where you borrow books.
I study in the library because it is quiet.
/ˈsɪnəmə/
Where you watch films on a big screen. Americans say movie theater.
There is one cinema in this town.
/mjuˈziːəm/
A building with old or important things to look at.
The museum is free on Sundays.
/mɒsk/
The building where Muslims pray. Say MOSK.
Turn left at the mosque.
/ˈbʌs stɒp/
The place where the bus stops for people.
I will meet you at the bus stop.
/tɜːn/
To change direction as you walk or drive.
Turn right after the bank.
/left/
The side of your body where your heart is.
The library is on your left.
/raɪt/
The opposite side to left.
Take the first street on the right.
/streɪt ɒn/
Forward, without turning.
Go straight on for two hundred metres.
/nɪə(r)/
A short distance from something.
My house is near the school.
/ˈɒpəzɪt/
On the other side, facing it.
The bank is opposite the post office.
Now read the story
Story · all 20 words
One Main Street
Our town is small. It is not a city and it does not pretend to be one. There is a single main street, and everything that anybody could possibly need is somewhere along it.
If you stand at the bus stop and look up the road, you can see almost the whole place. On your left is the bank, and next to it the post office, where my aunt has worked for nineteen years and knows what everybody is sending before they say it. Opposite them is the market, which opens every morning except Friday, and behind the market there is a small shop that sells bread until it runs out, and then closes.
Walk straight on for two minutes and you reach the mosque. Turn left there and you are standing in front of my old school. Turn right instead and you find the park, which has four benches, six trees and one extremely serious cat.
The library is near the park, in an old building with a green door and a woman inside who does not like noise. There is also a museum with two rooms and one famous stone, and a cinema that closed in 2019 and opened again last year with a single screen and very good chairs.
Last summer a tourist stopped me by the bus stop with a paper map and asked for the museum. I told him: straight on, past the mosque, right at the corner, and it is opposite the library. He thanked me carefully in three languages and then walked away in exactly the wrong direction. I watched him for a second and then ran after him. In a town this size, you cannot let somebody get lost.
Asking, in order of politeness:
Excuse me, where is the museum?
Excuse me, how do I get to the station?
Excuse me, is there a bank near here?
Answering uses only a few fixed pieces: Go straight on. Turn left. Turn right. Take the first street on the left. It is on your right. It is opposite the bank. It is next to the school.
The the problem. Some places take the and some do not, and there is no logic – only habit:
✓ go to the bank, the cinema, the market, the post office, the park
✓ go to school, go to work, go to bed, go home (no the, no to before home)
Go to school means you are a student there. Go to the school means you are visiting the building – a parent, for example.
Pronunciation: mosque is one syllable, MOSK. museum has the stress in the middle: myu-ZEE-um.
Where things are: town, city, street.
Places: shop, market, bank, post office, school, park, library, cinema, museum, mosque, bus stop.
Directions: turn left, turn right, straight on.
Position: near, opposite (and also: next to, behind, in front of, between).
Now describe the road from your front door to the nearest shop in four sentences, using straight on, turn, opposite and near.
Now practise with the questions below.
Check your understanding
Answer the questions below. You will see instantly if you are right.
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