Available and free: check time, access and price

Use available when an item or service can be obtained or used. The context tells you how: a shop may sell it, a library may lend it, or a hotel may let you book it.

Available does not mean free of charge. It also does not mean that you already have a booking. You may still need to ask about the price, date or conditions.

Available and free describe a person or thing. In a simple present statement, use am, is or are before them. Use is for one room and are for several rooms. The adjectives do not add a plural -s.

For a question, put am, is or are before the subject. You can also put available before a noun, as in an available room, or after it, as in a room available tonight.

For a person's schedule, available and free can both mean not busy and able to do something. Add a time so the listener knows when you can meet or help.

Use at with a clock time and on with a day. Free is natural in everyday conversation, and available also fits messages about work or appointments. Neither word alone promises that the person agrees to your plan.

Use available for + a noun to name an event or purpose. Use available to + a basic verb to name an action the person can do. These patterns help explain what their time is available for.

Free follows similar patterns when it describes someone's time: free for lunch and free to talk. Keep the difference between a named event and an action.

Words after available can narrow its meaning. Available in blue describes a color; available at the desk gives a place; available online gives a way to get something. Read those details before deciding that an item suits your needs.

Available to members describes the people who can use or obtain something. That does not include every visitor. The word available alone does not remove limits on access.

When free describes a price, you do not pay for the named item or service. You can put free before the item or after is. For free after an action and the phrase free of charge also express this meaning.

Check exactly what free describes. Free delivery says that delivery has no charge; it does not say that the item being delivered has no price. Some offers also name a condition, such as a minimum order.

A free seat or a free room may be one that nobody is using or has reserved. In that context, free concerns use, not price. A free room at a hotel could also mean a room offered without payment, so the surrounding information matters.

Ask a second question if the meaning is unclear. Ask about using the space when that is your concern, or ask about the cost when you need the price. Do not assume that every use of free means zero cost.

Unavailable means not available. It can describe an item you cannot get or a person who cannot take part at the stated time. The word does not tell you the reason, and it does not necessarily mean forever.

Keep any time detail with the message. Not available today leaves open the possibility of another day. When making plans, you can name a time that does work instead.