Recommended resources
The freely available resources this lesson will direct you to.
Hei! In the previous lesson, you listened for the few facts that make a transport announcement usable. Walking directions call for the same selective attention, but the information now comes as a sequence: where to walk, where to turn, and what landmark confirms that you have arrived.
By the end of this lesson, you should be able to ask for a walkable route and follow a short answer without translating every word. Allow about 40 minutes, including the reading and video.
Ask for the kind of answer you need
If you ask Hvor er apoteket? (“Where is the pharmacy?”), someone may simply point. If you need a route, ask Hvordan kommer jeg meg til apoteket? (“How do I get to the pharmacy?”). Start with Unnskyld (“Excuse me”), then ask the question directly. Er det langt å gå? adds “Is it far to walk?”
Directions in Norwegian explained – essential phrases and examples
Read the question patterns in Preply’s guide to directions. Compare a question about a place’s location with one that invites step-by-step instructions.
In “Phrases for asking directions in Norwegian,” begin with the paragraph introducing the two patterns. Continue through the examples ending with the airport example. Focus on what kind of answer each question is likely to produce; you do not need to memorize every destination.
For a useful street-level opening, you could say:
Unnskyld, hvordan kommer jeg meg til apoteket herfra? Er det langt å gå?
“Excuse me, how do I get to the pharmacy from here? Is it far to walk?”
Herfra means “from here.” It makes clear that you want directions from your present position, not a general description of where the pharmacy is.
Hear each instruction as an action tied to a landmark
A short route usually contains an action—walk, turn, cross—and a point at which to do it. Gå rett fram means “go straight ahead”; ta til høyre and ta til venstre mean “turn right” and “turn left.” You may also hear sving til høyre/venstre. The turn word matters, but so does the phrase telling you when to turn.
Norwegian Language: Directions 2 and Small Sentences
Watch “Norwegian Language: Directions 2 and Small Sentences” by Norwegian Teacher - Karin for examples of short walking instructions spoken aloud.
Watch walking directions. Listen for the phrases indicating that a place is close enough to walk to, then for “straight ahead,” a numbered turning, and a right or left turn. The video moves on to other travel phrases afterward; stop at the end of this range.
When listening, group words into action plus checkpoint:
| What you hear | What to do |
|---|---|
| Gå rett fram til lyskrysset. | Walk straight until the traffic lights. |
| Ta til høyre ved andre lyskryss. | Turn right at the second set of traffic lights. |
| Gå forbi banken. | Walk past the bank; do not stop at it. |
| Det ligger på venstre side. | Look for it on your left, facing the way you are walking. |
Første (“first”) and andre (“second”) can change your route as much as høyre and venstre. Also distinguish a checkpoint from a destination: a bank you walk past is not necessarily the place you are looking for.
Follow a complete route
The LearnNoW dialogue “Veien til skolen” gives a compact route with a landmark, a numbered intersection, a distance, and a final sighting. Its story includes family conversation; concentrate on the directions and the later request to make them clearer.
4D Veien til skolen - LearnNoW - NTNU
Read this short dialogue from NTNU’s LearnNoW course to see how a speaker connects several walking instructions. If the page’s audio player works for you, listen once before checking the text.
In “4D Veien til skolen,” read from the opening narration through directions, stopping after the father says the walk is about a kilometre. Then continue from Dina’s request through the map offer. Notice where she needs the route clarified, rather than trying to learn every word of the surrounding story.
To follow the father’s route, retain the instructions in order:
- Walk to the barnehage (kindergarten). This is the first landmark.
- Turn right at the første veikryss—the first intersection.
- Continue straight for hundre meter—100 metres.
- Take andre vei til venstre—the second street on the left. The school should then be visible på høyre side av veien, on the right side of the road.
The kindergarten is not where the walk ends; it tells you where the next part begins. Likewise, “on the right side” describes where to look after the turns. If you lose the sequence, knowing all the individual words may still leave you unsure where to go.
Use landmarks to check your progress
The infographic below shows another short route. Read the Norwegian phrases as a connected answer, even though the sentence locating the bus stop appears above the turn-by-turn instructions.
Here, ved andre lyskryss identifies the turn: at the second traffic light. På hjørnet av locates the bookshop at a corner. Finally, Bussholdeplassen er foran banken tells you where to look when you reach the bank. That last sentence locates the destination; it is not another turn.
You may encounter both rett fram and rett frem in written Bokmål. Treat them as the same instruction: keep walking straight ahead.
Check a route before you set off
You do not have to hold a long answer silently in memory. Repeat the critical part back as a question, especially when you are unsure about a number or a turn. These short checks keep the conversation in Norwegian:
- Mener du første eller andre vei til venstre? — “Do you mean the first or second street on the left?”
- Så jeg går rett fram til lyskrysset og tar til høyre der? — “So I go straight to the traffic lights and turn right there?”
- Kan du si det litt saktere? — “Could you say that a little more slowly?”
- Kan du vise meg på kartet? — “Could you show me on the map?”
Consider this illustrative exchange:
Du: Unnskyld, hvordan kommer jeg meg til apoteket herfra?
Den andre: Gå rett fram til lyskrysset. Ta til venstre der, og gå forbi banken. Apoteket ligger på høyre side, ved siden av biblioteket.
Du: Til venstre ved lyskrysset, og så forbi banken?
Den andre: Ja, det stemmer.
The reply confirms the turn and the landmark you must pass. You can then look for the pharmacy on the right, next to the library. That is more reliable than remembering only “left” and “bank.”
Key takeaways
Ask Hvordan kommer jeg meg til …? when you want a route rather than a location. As you listen, hold each action together with its checkpoint: straight to the lights, right at the second intersection, past the bank. Use the final landmark to confirm arrival, and repeat an uncertain turn or number back before walking away.
Next, you will use similarly targeted questions when a transport problem requires you to explain what has happened and understand a proposed solution.