In a shopping centre, Xiaoyu asks a security guard where the toilets are. The ones on this floor are closed.
Xiaoyu
请问，洗手间在哪儿？
Qǐngwèn, xǐshǒujiān zài nǎr ?
Excuse me, where are the toilets?
A security guard
在三楼，电梯旁边。
Zài sān lóu, diàntī pángbiān.
On the third floor, next to the lift.
Xiaoyu
这一层没有吗？
Zhè yī céng méi yǒu ma ?
There are none on this floor?
A security guard
有，但是今天在打扫。
Yǒu, dànshì jīntiān zài dǎsǎo.
There are, but they are being cleaned today.
Xiaoyu
那我上三楼。电梯在这边吗？
Nà wǒ shàng sān lóu. Diàntī zài zhè biān ma ?
Then I will go up to the third. Is the lift this way?
A security guard
往前走，左边就是。
Wǎng qián zǒu, zuǒbian jiù shì.
Carry straight on, it is on your left.
Xiaoyu
谢谢您！
Xièxie nín !
Thank you very much!
Chen Hao
小雨，你去哪儿？
Xiǎoyǔ, nǐ qù nǎr ?
Xiaoyu, where are you off to?
Xiaoyu
上三楼，这层的洗手间不能用。
Shàng sān lóu, zhè céng de xǐshǒujiān bù néng yòng.
Up to the third, the toilets on this floor are out of use.
Chen Hao
我跟你一起上去。
Wǒ gēn nǐ yīqǐ shàngqù.
I will come up with you.
Both mean the same thing. 洗手间, "the room where you wash your hands", is the polite word, the one used in restaurants, hotels and shopping centres. 厕所 is direct and is what you read on the doors of plainer public places; it is not coarse, merely blunter. When in doubt, 洗手间 works everywhere.
三楼 names the floor you are going to; 这一层 names the level you are on, seen as a layer of the building. You go 上楼 up and 下楼 down, but you count 这个楼有五层. The first is an address, the second a quantity.
边 means side, and attaches to a demonstrative: 这边 this side, 那边 that side. To ask, you say 哪边 or, more commonly still, 在哪儿. The points of the compass are built the same way, 东边, 西边, and you often hear the short forms 左边 and 右边, already met in the street.
