Directions with "Прямо, Налево, Направо"

1. Asking for Your Destination

Before you can get directions, you need to know how to ask for them. This involves two steps: getting someone's attention politely and asking where something is.

Let's start with a video that covers these essential phrases.

To practice, you can combine these phrases with the names of common city locations.

Using the vocabulary from the image, you can now form complete questions:

• Извините, скажите, пожалуйста, где банк? (Excuse me, please tell me, where is the bank?)
• Извините, где находится отель? (Excuse me, where is the hotel located?)

2. The Core Directional Words

Once you've asked your question, you'll need to understand the answer. The three most fundamental words for giving directions are прямо, налево, and направо.

Let's watch a short video clip that introduces these words and explains how to combine them with an action verb.

As you saw in the video, you combine an imperative verb (a command) with a directional adverb. The most common verb you'll use is a form of идти (to go on foot).

• Иди (informal) or Идите (formal/plural) + direction
  • Идите прямо. (Go straight.)
  • Идите налево. (Go left.)
  • Идите направо. (Go right.)

You might also hear the verb повернуть (to turn):

• Поверните налево. (Turn left.)
• Поверните направо. (Turn right.)

This handy image summarizes the key phrases:

3. Direction vs. Location: Налево vs. Слева

A small but important distinction in Russian is between direction (where to go) and location (where something is).

• Налево (to the left) / Направо (to the right) indicate movement/direction.
  • Идите направо. (Go to the right.)
• Слева (on the left) / Справа (on the right) indicate static location.
  • Банк находится справа. (The bank is located on the right.)

The following reading provides clear examples and audio pronunciation for these words.

4. Practice Dialogue

Let's put it all together in a short dialogue. Imagine you're on the street and need to find a pharmacy (аптека).

You:
Извините, скажите, пожалуйста, где находится аптека?
(Excuse me, can you please tell me where the pharmacy is?)

A passerby:
Идите прямо, а потом на светофоре поверните налево. Аптека будет справа.
(Go straight, and then at the traffic light, turn left. The pharmacy will be on the right.)

You:
Спасибо большое!
(Thank you very much!)

Notice how the directions use прямо and налево for movement, and справа for the final location of the pharmacy.

For more examples, the FluentU article you just looked at has a great "Example Dialogues" section. Feel free to browse through it to see these phrases in various contexts.

Conclusion

Отлично! You can now ask for, give, and understand simple directions in Russian. This is a vital skill for navigating any Russian-speaking environment.

Key Takeaways:

• To ask for directions, use Извините, скажите, пожалуйста, где находится...?
• The three core commands are:
  • Идите прямо (Go straight)
  • Идите/Поверните налево (Go/Turn left)
  • Идите/Поверните направо (Go/Turn right)
• Remember the difference: налево/направо is for direction of movement, while слева/справа is for static location.

Preview of the next lesson:
In our next lesson, we will begin to synthesize what you've learned by moving on to our next learning outcome: Read a short adapted Russian text and answer comprehension questions. You will likely see some of the directional and motion phrases you've just mastered