 Hi students, it's Shayna, your teacher at EspressoEnglish.net and today I want to answer a question about questions. So I hope you'll enjoy today's class. If you're here with me, please like the video to say hello. One of my students asked me about these three questions, which are three different ways to ask someone about another person's phone number. And my student wanted to know what's the difference between these three questions. When would you ask, what's his number? When would you ask, do you know his number? And when would you ask, do you happen to know his number? Or would you happen to know his number? So today I'll explain it to you. This question, what's his number, is the most direct. You can use this question when talking with friends or when talking with someone who you are certain that this person knows the number. For example, if you were talking to me and you wanted to know my husband's phone number, then you would ask, what's his number? Because of course I know my husband's phone number, right? So you can ask this direct question when talking with friends or when you are sure that the other person knows the answer. Do you know his number is a little more indirect? And we would ask this if we are not so certain that the other person actually knows the phone number. For example, let's say I'm telling you that I have a great yoga instructor and you're interested in taking yoga classes too and so you want to talk to the instructor, then you might ask me, oh, do you know his number? Because maybe I know the yoga instructor's number, but maybe I don't. So you're not sure, you're not certain, so you could ask me, do you know his number? And I'll either say, yes, I have his number, here it is, or I'll say, no, sorry, I can ask him about it. Now, do you happen to know his number or would you happen to know his number? These are the same. You can use either do or would in this question only. Ask this. This is even more indirect. And this is when there is only a very small possibility that the other person actually knows the number. So let's imagine that I met some businessman at a conference. I only met him once. He's not my best friend. He's not my co-worker. And later I'm telling you about this businessman and you want to contact him. So you might ask, do you happen to know his number or would you happen to know his number? Because there's only really a very small chance that I actually do have the number. Got it? So this is most direct and this is most indirect. Or this is the most certain question when you're certain the other person knows the answer. Use this when you're maybe a little bit uncertain and use this. Do you happen to know or would you happen to know when there's only a very small possibility that the other person knows the answer? Or in this case, the phone number. All right? So it's an interesting thing. We use the word happen in English. We can use it to talk about chance or coincidence. So in this case, it's saying do you by chance know his number? And let me give you some other examples of using happen to talk about coincidences because I think this is an interesting aspect of English. Let's say that I'm talking to my friend and my friend is in some sort of legal trouble and my friend says, oh, I really need a lawyer. I could say, oh, my sister happens to be a lawyer. Okay? My sister happens to be a lawyer. This means it's by coincidence or by chance. My sister is a lawyer and a lawyer is what my friend needs. So it was a happy coincidence that I actually know a lawyer and it's my sister. Another example would be, so that would be an example of using happen for a good coincidence. You need a lawyer? My sister happens to be a lawyer. You can also use happens for bad coincidences. Here's an example of that. Let's imagine that last night there was a big thunderstorm and there were some very strong winds and the wind knocked down a tree. Unfortunately, my car happened to be parked next to the tree. So the tree fell on my car. So that's an example of an unlucky coincidence or a negative coincidence. The thunderstorm knocked down a tree and my car happened to be parked next to the tree. It was chance that my or coincidence that my car was parked next to the tree. Got it? Another really good example is some of you might have seen a video I posted last week with another English teacher, Gabby from Go Natural English. Gabby and I, we know each other because we've met in various cities around the world and she likes to travel and I like to travel. So we're always living in different places. But right now, we happen to be living near each other. So that's another coincidence because we didn't plan it that way. We happen to be living next to each other. So you can use the word happen in English to talk about chance or coincidence. Okay? I hope you've learned something from this lesson and I happen to have more lessons for you. If you click the link above this video, you can take some free samples from all of my courses. So if you want to know exactly what my courses and my e-books are like, then you can take a free sample lesson and see exactly what the format is, if the level of difficulty is appropriate for your English level. And of course, see if you enjoy the lesson. So go ahead and click on the link to try some free samples. Thank you so much for this question about questions. If you have more questions from me, please post them in the comments and maybe I will make a future video about them. Bye for now.