English Language Learners Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for speakers of other languages learning English. It only takes a minute to sign up.
Sign up to join this community
How does one say that one was in an accident with one’ car?
I am not sure if any of the following phrases are correct. Please tell me if the spoken forms below are correct, or if there are any other idioms or phrases used to express this idea.
The first one is OK.
The second and third can be changed like this
I crashed into a car in the street.
I collided with a car in the street.
do accident should be had an accident
Informally, you can have a shunt or (esp. UK, prang), but those nouns are usually only used of relatively minor collisions (not fatal accidents). The "idiomatic" versions of OP's suggested verbs (where another vehicle is involved) are...
I hit a car in the street.
I crashed into a car in the street.
I collided with a car in the street.
Note that you can say "I pranged my car" (you hit something, or ran it into a ditch, say), but you don't usually prang into another car. And as a verb usage you don't shunt your own car - you might (rarely) shunt into another vehicle, but that usually implies the other car wasn't moving at the time - if two moving vehicles collide (usually, at relatively low speeds), they have a shunt.
More serious accidents include pile-ups or smash-ups (involving three or more vehicles), but they happen on things like motorways, not streets. If a vehicle is damaged beyond economic repair you might say you totalled it (where an insurance company would say it's a total write-off, and offer you the value of the car before the accident, rather than pay for it to be repaired). You wouldn't normally use that expression if fatalities were involved.
If you're in a line of (usually, relatively slow-moving) traffic in a street and one car stops suddenly (to avoid hitting a dog, say) several of the following cars may be unable to stop in time. In which case they're involved in a shunt collision (only the tailgate/boot of the first car and the front bumper/bonnet of the last are damaged, but all the others suffer both types of damage).
Two Different perspectives for you.
I crashed my car - only my car had been involved in the accident (edit- most probably only my car, as otherwise, we would use one of the below sentences, except in the case of omitting what exactly you hit, in this case, you would most likely be subjected to further questioning and then would explain what exactly you had hit, thus see options below first)
I crashed my car into another car/ I hit a car/ I collided with a car - my car (or vehicle) and another had been involved.
Hope this helps!
