How to ask for advice and useful phrases for giving advice to someone. There are various ways how we can ask for advice and give advice in English. Imagine you have a problem and you ask one of your friends for a piece of advice, or a friend asks you for advice. You can ask for advice/ give advice by using some of the following expressions.
Learn more about how to make suggestions to someone in English.
Asking for Advice
Here is the common phrases that you could use when someone want to ask for advice:
- What do you suggest?
- What do you advise me to do?
- What should I do (about…)?
- What ought I to do?
- What’s your advice?
- If you were me what would you do?
- What do you thing I should do (about…)?
- What would you suggest I do..?
- I should do about…?
- Can/Could you give me some advice (about…)
- What would you do (in this situation)?
Giving Advice
Here is the common phrases that you could use when someone want to give advice:
- If I were you, I would…
- Why don’t you …?
- You’d better …
- You ought to/should…
- If you take my advice, you’ll …
- It might be a good idea to …
- I advise you to…
- Have you thought about…?
- I think you should…
- Maybe you should…
- I suggest you…
- How about (verb+ing…)?
- You might try (verb+ing)
- I would advise you to…
- My advice would be to…
Declining to Give Advice
- I don’t know what to advise, I’m afraid.
- I wish I could suggest something, but I can’t.
- I wish I could help.
- I’m afraid I can’t really help you.
Things to remember about asking for and giving advice:
1. “Advise” is a verb.
Example:
“I advise you to learn English. You will undoubtedly need it in your higher studies”
2. “Advice” is a noun.
Example:
“My father gave me this piece of advice when I was young: never give up”
3. “Ought to” has nearly the same meaning as “should“. The only difference is that “ought to ” refers to a moral or external obligation but should is more of advice.
Example:
“You ought to stop smoking.”
“You should stop smoking.”
4. “You’d better” is the short form of “you had better“
Example:
“You’d better see a doctor!” = “You had better see the doctor”
Study the dialogue
Student: I’m terrible at English and I think I should do something about it. What do you advise me to do?
Teacher: I think you should try this website. It’s a fantastic website for beginners.
Student: I’ve heard about it, but what do you think I should start with?
Teacher: You’d better start with the lessons. Then, try the exercises.
How to Ask for Advice | Infographic
