Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[erik19283]

Hello,

When someone goes up in a building, he/she goes on the first, second, third floor and so on, but what about when the person goes down?

Would you say first floor down, first floor underground, first level underground, first basement or something else?

Thank you.

[Philo Kevetch]

Hello erik -

B - B1 - B2 - etc. Most elevator buttons are marked in the same or similar manner. Philo

[erik19283]

Thank you for taking some of your time to answer my question.

I don't know, maybe I wasn't clear enough, but I wasn't asking what button to press in an elevator.

I'd like to know what people say when they want to refer to such a place as an underground floor.

[KazAV]

It would be ok to say basement or basement floor if it is in a department store.

[erik19283]

So, would I say something like I am in the third basement or third basement floor?

What if I am not in a department floor but instead in an underground parking lot? Would I use a different expression?

[KazAV]

I think I misunderstood you in the first instance. Basically it goes like this:

In a department store there are floors named ground floor (as you walk in), first floor, second floor and so on. The floor that is directly underneath the ground floor is the basement floor and there is only one. Whether you go up or down in the building, the name of the floor stays the same. So the first floor is always the first floor regardless of whether you travel up or down to it. If you go from the third floor to the second floor, you just say you are going to the second floor - no need to indicate whether you are going up or down or whatever.

An underground parking space is just as it is - an underground parking space.

I hope this is what you meant and that it helps.

[Lorikeet]

I think he is talking about a series of floors in the basement for underground parking. I know they are labeled B1, B2, etc. I don't know if it's the "first basement" "second basement" "first level underground" or what.

[Philo Kevetch]

Basement Level 1 ; Basement Level 2 ; Basement Level 3 ; etc. ?

Level 1 in the basement ; Level 2 in the basement ; Level 3 in the basement ; etc. ?

For parking : Underground Level 1 ; Underground Level 2 ; Underground Level 3 ; etc. ?

Undergroung Parking Level 1 ; Underground Parking Level 2 ; Underground Parking Level 3 ; etc. ?

[KazAV]

I've never seen anything like that in the part of England I come from, so it's probably better to say that I don't know

[erik19283]

I think this is a bit harder than I first thought!

Sorry to contradict you KazAV, but there is a department store near where I live with two floors underground, not only one, and it is not the only department store like that either. Just to make suke that you don't think I am mistaking, let me explain. When I go in the department store from the street, I am on the ground floor. Then, I take one escalator down and get to a kind of food court with a few shops (like Body Shop), then I take another escalator down to get to other shops and a kind of supermarket. So, this makes two floors underground, doesn't it?

As for Lorikeet's comment, I do want to know about floors in an underground parking lot, but not only about parking lots.

Any time I go underground in a department store, an underground parking lot or anywhere else underground, how do I say where I am going?

Do I say: "I am going to B2", "I am going to the second basement", I'm going to the second floor in the basement", I'm going to the second underground floor"?

For example, if someone asked me where the store X is located in the department store, would I say that it is on �the second basement�?

If I ask my friend where he parked his car, would he say he parked it on the �third floor in the basement�?

That�s what I�m trying to know. I know that if you go up, you simply say that something is located on the first floor, second floor, third floor and so on, but when you go down, what do you say?

Still hoping!

[KazAV]

No problem. As I said, I have never heard of anything like this where I come from.

Couldn't you just say then first floor up/first floor down (or below) and so on? That would work fine for me. Suppose "second floor basement" would work just as well. Or does each floor have a specific name that it is known by that you can use?

[Teo]

http://www.englishforums.com/English/B1B2/cjwjz/Post.htm
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