Can I slide past you?

This is a polite question to ask when you need to get into a place that's being blocked by someone's body. Some other examples of situations that you can use this in are:

  • when you're walking through a crowd of people.
  • when you need to walk past people sitting in your row to get to your seat in a theater.

"Can I slide past you?" is a friendly way to ask this. It sounds friendly because the word "slide" sounds so smooth and easy. It's like you're saying, "Can I go past you quietly and without bothering you much?"

If you're more annoyed or if you're a loud and aggressive person, you can ask like this:

Can I get by?

You could also ask "May I...?"

This phrase appears in these lessons: