English Phrases – Where Something is Located

Study English Phrases and Daily Expressions — how to locate something. Learn the basics of speaking English with these useful phrases and study English Pronunciation.

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Video Transcript:

In this American English Pronunciation video, we’re going to go over phrases for locating something. Have you ever found yourself telling someone where something is?
Rachel, where are those scripts?
I put them in the bottom drawer of the filing cabinet in the office.
Where is the lens cap?
I put it in a basket on the table next to the door.
These phrases are important and useful, and today we’re going to go over a bunch of different phrases you’ll want to know in these situations.
Luckily, the other night, I happened to find myself in my kitchen and I couldn’t remember where anything was!

Let’s get started. First, we’re going to hear a bunch of different phrases where David is directing me around the kitchen.
Hey David! Where is the silverware?
In the drawer next to the sink.
Oh right! Perfect! Thank you!
Where is the ladle?
In the drawer to the right of the stove.
Oh right! Perfect!
Where is that big silver mixing bowl?
It’s above the refrigerator.
Oh! Oh yeah! There it is!
Where is the trash?
It’s in the cabinet under the sink.
Under the sink. Great! Thank you!
Where are the glasses?
In the cabinet to the left of the sink.
Oh! Yes! Thank you!
Where are the muffin tins?
In the drawer below the oven.
Oh, below the oven. I didn’t know there was a drawer there. Awesome!
David where is the tin foil?
In the middle drawer on the island.
Oh!
Hey David! Where are those cookie cutters?
On the second shelf in the middle cabinet.
Middle cabinet. Second shelf. Yes! Thank you!
Sarah gave me these.
Hey David! Where are the other vases?
On the top shelf of the cabinet to the left of the stove.
Oh, okay. Oh, I can’t reach that.
David, where are the serving spoons?
In the island.
Oh!
No, all the way to the left.
Oh.

Ok, let’s talk about all the different phrases that were used. First we’ll talk about phrases like ‘in the drawer’, ‘in the cabinet’, and then we’ll talk about phrases like ‘to the left of’, ‘under the’, and so on.

What are the places you heard where things can be in the kitchen? We have ‘in a drawer’, ‘in a cabinet’, ‘in the island’, and ‘on a shelf’. These are the containers. In a bedroom you might also have a dresser, or a nightstand. In an office, you might have a filing cabinet or a desk, or a book case.

When we’re speaking generically, we use the article ‘a’, an indefinite article, which we pronounce with the schwa: It’s in a drawer in the island. A drawer. I’m not saying which drawer. So I use ‘a’. But David used the definite article ‘the’. That’s because he was telling me specifically where things were. The exact drawer.
In the drawer next to the sink.
Oh right!
In the drawer.
Which word is the most clear in that phrase? It’s ‘drawer’. ‘In’ and ‘the’ are function words, they’re less important, we say them quickly, and you should as well. Don’t make every word of equal importance in American English. You will not sound natural. Take ‘in’ and ‘the’ and pronounce them like David did, quickly. In the. Listen again.

In the drawer next to the sink.
In the…In the…In the…

I have a video that goes over the phrase ‘in the’ and other function word phrases with ‘the’. You’ll learn tips and tricks to make these phrases really quickly. I’ll put a link to that video at the end of this video.

In the drawer. Ok, ‘drawer’. That’s a pretty hard word. We start with the DR consonant cluster, dr. DR can sound like JR, jj, jj, jjr; many Americans pronounce it this way. So if it’s easier for you to think of it as JR, drawer, then do so.

For the R consonant, the tongue should be pulled back and up a bit so the tip isn’t touching anything, drrrrrrr. See that the lips flare a bit. Drrrrrr-. Next we have the AW as in LAW + R consonant. Draw-. I made a video on the word ‘quarter’, which also has the AW + R combination. I explained that when the AW vowel is followed by R, the tongue is further back and the lips round more than when the AW vowel is not followed by the R. So it’s draw-, -aw-, -aw-. See how the lips round. The tongue pulls back in the mouth. Draw-. At the end of the video, I’ll put a link to the video on the word ‘quarter’. For the R at the end of the word, we actually bring the tongue up a bit more forward again. Drawer. It should be lifted so the middle is close to, or lightly touching the sides of, the middle of the roof of the mouth. Drawer.
Draaaawwwwrrrrr.
In the drawer. Keep ‘in the’ short, and ‘drawer’ longer and clearer. In the drawer. Do that with me. In the drawer.

What about cabinet? It’s a three syllable word, but many Americans drop the middle syllable. Listen to David.

In the cabinet to the left of the sink.
Cabinet. Cabinet. Cabinet.

Cabinet, two syllables. You can do this too, why not make it a little easier. Cabinet. The back of the tongue comes up for the K consonant, touching the soft palate. Ca-. Next is the AA vowel, jaw drop, back of tongue lifted. Ca-cab-. Lips come together for the B, cab-. Then the tongue goes to the roof of the mouth for the N, and quickly flaps down for the vowel then right back up for the T. Cabinet. Nit. Nit.

The second syllable should be shorter. Notice I’m stopping the air. I’m not releasing the T, cabinet, but cabinet. This T will be a Stop T if it’s at the end of a sentence, or if there’s a pause or break after it. It will be a Flap T, t, t, if it links to a word that begins with a vowel or diphthong, like ‘cabinet under’. Cabinet under.

So something can be in a drawer, and it can be in a cabinet. Remember, ‘in the’ or ‘in a’ should be really quick.

But we want to use ‘on’ with shelf. Listen to David.

On the second shelf in the middle cabinet.

Just like ‘in the’, ‘on the’ or ‘on a’ should be very fast. ‘Shelf’ begins with the SH consonant, she. Then we have the EH as in BED vowel and dark L. Shelf. Drop the jaw for the EH vowel, she-. The tongue lifts a bit in the middle. She-. Then we have the Dark L. She-l. The back of the tongue presses back to get this sound: ull. Shel-. Shel. Notice how the jaw relaxes back up. Shel-f. And finally, the F consonant. The bottom lip comes up so the inside of it vibrates against the bottom of the top front teeth, ff. Shelf.

Something can also be ‘on’ the counter. Did you see the coffee pot? It was on the counter. Note with this word, some Americans drop the T after N, so it would sound like ‘couner’. The coffee pot’s on the counter. I usually pronounce it this way. Couner. Counter.

Now we have a different set of phrases to tell the specific location. Listen to the different locator phrases that David uses.

In the drawer next to the sink.
Next to-

In the drawer to the right of the stove.
To the right of-
In the cabinet to the left of the sink.
To the left of-
In the middle drawer on the island.
In the middle-
No, all the way to the left.
All the way to the left-
It’s above the refrigerator.
Above. He could also have said “on top of”.
On top of the refrigerator.
It’s in the cabinet under the sink.
Under. ‘Under’ is the same as ‘below’.
In the drawer below the oven.
Below.
For shelves or drawers, you can say ‘first’, ‘second’, ‘top’, ‘bottom’. On the second shelf in the middle cabinet.

On the top shelf of the cabinet to the left of the stove.

A lot of these phrases used ‘to’. Notice how David pronounces this, reduced to the schwa. To, to, very fast. Not ‘tooo’. To. Listen again.
To the right, to the left. Next to. American English is full of reductions like this, and they’re important. So pronounce this word with a quick schwa. Actually, these phrases had not just ‘to’, but ‘to the’. Luckily, I have a video on that. Look for the link at the end of this video.

Notice how we only need to make one T sound in the phrase ‘next to’. Next to. Just think of dropping the first T and connecting the two words. Next to. Next to.

So all of these directions have a bigger, or generic, location like a cabinet, a shelf in a cabinet, a drawer, and then a more specific location like ‘next to the sink’, ‘above the refrigerator’.

Now you practice. I’m going to ask you a series of questions, and I want you to answer them out loud! If you need to, pause the video while you think of your answer. If you want to, try recording yourself answering one or all of the questions. Upload to Facebook or Instagram and use #RachelsEnglish so I can check it out.

Ok, here are your questions. Don’t forget to practice out loud!
Where do you keep your forks?
Where are your glasses?
Where’s your largest frying pan?

Here’s the video on ‘to the’ that I mentioned earlier, and a video on reducing ‘to’. And here’s the video that goes over ‘in the’ and the video on ‘quarter’. Links are also in the description below.

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That’s it, and thanks so much for using Rachel’s English.

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