happen to do something

[Ashraful Haque]

I want to know how to use 'happen to do something.' Please let me know if the following sentences are correct.
When 'happen to' means 'by chance'.
- "I hit a guy with my bike on purpose cause he wasn't moving. He happened to be a police officer - just my luck!"

When you want to sound polite.
- "Do you guys happen to have a rooftop swimming pool in this hotel?"


Lastly when using it to mean 'by chance,' which one between the following sentences sound more natural/ would a native prefer to say:
1) I went to pick up some groceries and happened to see James in town.
2) I went to pick up some groceries and saw James in town.

 

[Yankee]

Either one works, but I would tend to use 1) if seeing James was somewhat unexpected.

 

[teechar]

When 'happen to' means 'by chance'.
- "I hit a guy with my bike on purpose cause he wasn't moving. He happened to be a police officer - just my luck!"

Some comments:
1- That sounds as if you lifted your bike and hit the person with it! I suggest you rephrase that sentence. You might want to use: "crash into" and "cycling".
2- Note that "cause" is not the same as "because".

When you want to sound polite.
- "Do you guys happen to have a rooftop swimming pool in this hotel?"

I don't like the use of "guys" to mean "people". You can use "folks" instead, but that's still quite casual. The best is to omit it altogether.

 

[5jj]

- "I hit a guy with my bike on purpose cause he wasn't moving.

Do you really mean that you hit him on purpose/deliberately/intentionally?

 

[Ashraful Haque]

Some comments:
1- That sounds as if you lifted your bike and hit the person with it! I suggest you rephrase that sentence. You might want to use: "crash into" and "cycling".
2- Note that "cause" is not the same as "because".

I don't like the use of "guys" to mean "people". You can use "folks" instead, but that's still quite casual. The best is to omit it altogether.

Thank you so much for pointing them out.
Can you use 'crash into someone' when talking about doing it on purpose? What I tried to mean is that the guy was standing in my way and wasn't letting me go so I got mad and crashed into him on purpose.

 

[teechar]

Thank you so much for pointing them those out.

"Them" would suggest you already knew about those points.

Can you use 'crash into someone' when talking about doing it on purpose?

Yes.

What I tried to mean is that the guy was standing in wasn't going to get out of my way, and wasn't letting me go so I got mad and crashed into him on purpose.

Note that "mad" in that sense is AmE. Other varieties use "angry".