Virtuous English AcademyTown & Places — A1 English Vocabulary
This A1 vocabulary list gathers 20 beginner English words about town & places — shops, parks and places around your town. Every word comes with a simple definition, its British-English pronunciation and a natural example sentence, so you learn each one in real context. When you are ready, open the flashcards to practise and remember them for good.
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Using town & places words in English
These are the words that let you find your way and describe where you have been, and the vocabulary itself is easy. What takes practice is the article. English drops the in front of certain places when you go there for their normal purpose — you go to school to study and to hospital to be treated — but keeps it everywhere else. That distinction is unusual and it is the main thing worth learning here.
What to watch out for
Some places lose the when you go there for their purpose
Go to school, go to work, go to bed, go to church, and — in British English — go to hospital. Add the and the meaning shifts to the building itself: I went to the school to meet the teacher means you visited, not that you studied there.
to for movement, at and in for position
I go to the park describes the journey; I am at the park or in the park describes being there. Use at for a point or a purpose (at the station, at the bank) and in for an enclosed space (in the museum, in the city).
Several of these words differ in American English
A British shop is often an American store; the British underground is the American subway; a British chemist is an American drugstore. Both sets are widely understood. Post office is two words, and café keeps its accent in careful British writing.
Words learners mix up
Two tables. The first is the three words for things you walk and drive along, which your address depends on. The second is three buildings that are easy to name and easy to confuse with something else.
Street, road, bridge
| Word | What it actually means | In a sentence |
|---|---|---|
| street | A way through a town with buildings on both sides. Addresses normally use this word. | They live in Green Street. |
| road | A way that joins two places, in a town or between towns. It does not need buildings beside it. | This road goes to the airport. |
| bridge | A structure carrying a road or path over water, or over another road. | Walk over the bridge. |
British English says in Green Street where American English says on Green Street, and both countries say on the road when they mean travelling. When a street name is part of the address it takes a capital letter — Oxford Street — and no the.
Three buildings worth checking
| Word | What it actually means | In a sentence |
|---|---|---|
| library | Where you borrow books free and give them back. It does not sell anything. | I borrowed it from the library. |
| museum | Where old or interesting objects are kept for people to look at. You pay to go into some and not others. | The museum opens at ten. |
| cinema | The building where films are shown. Americans call it a movie theater. | We went to the cinema last night. |
The first one traps a great many learners, because in French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese and Russian the similar-looking word means a shop that sells books. In English that shop is a bookshop, and a library is free. If you paid for the book, you were not in a library.
Collocations that sound natural
Four places and the phrases people use about them. Notice how the little word changes when the meaning moves from the building to the activity.
shop
go shoppinga shoe shopthe shop is closeda corner shopdo the shopping
The activity is go shopping or do the shopping — never make shopping. A corner shop is the small British one that sells a little of everything.
station
a train stationa bus stationthe police stationat the stationmeet me at the station
Being there takes at, because English treats a station as a point on a journey rather than a space you are inside.
park
in the parkgo to the parka walk in the parka car park
A car park is a British parking area, not a green space at all — Americans call it a parking lot. The green one takes in, like a garden.
hotel
stay at a hotelbook a hotela cheap hotela hotel room
You stay at a hotel, so the verb is not live. Living somewhere means it is your home, which a hotel is not.
Where each word belongs
Five words with something extra attached. One has an accent in its spelling, one names a bank you cannot get money from, and one is capitalised only sometimes.
- caféFrench spelling · BritishCareful British writing keeps the accent. Said aloud it is two syllables — CAF-ay — and the shortened spoken form caff means a plain, cheap one.
- bankTwo meaningsWhere money is kept, and also the land at the side of a river. The second meaning turns up constantly in stories and on maps, so it is worth knowing early.
- post officeTwo words · capitalsTwo separate words. Lower case for any branch, capitals for the national company: the Post Office lost my parcel.
- restaurantPronunciationBritish speakers say it in three syllables and swallow the middle one, roughly REST-ron. Saying every letter marks the word as read rather than heard.
- marketOutdoors · British townsIn Britain this normally means stalls in the open air on a set day of the week, not a shop. Many towns are still called market towns because of it.
Sentences to try
Four frames for saying where you are going and where things are.
- I go to the market on Saturday.
- There is a bank next to the hotel.
- Excuse me, where is the station?
- My flat is near a big park.
Questions about town & places vocabulary
Do I say "go to school" or "go to the school"?
Both exist and they mean different things. Go to school, with no article, means to attend as a student — it is about the activity rather than the building. Go to the school means to visit that particular building for some other reason, such as meeting a teacher. The same pair works for hospital, church, prison and university, though American English keeps the with hospital in both senses.
When do I use to, at and in with places?
To marks movement towards somewhere: I am going to the museum. At marks a position thought of as a point or a purpose: I am at the station, at the bank. In marks being inside an enclosed space or a large area: in the museum, in London. The one to watch is arrive, which takes at or in and never to.
How do I ask for directions in English?
Open with Excuse me and then use one of two frames: Where is the station? or, more politely, Could you tell me the way to the station? The answers you will hear back are worth learning at the same time — go straight on, turn left, turn right, it is on your left, opposite the bank, next to the museum.