Asking the way: nerede and sağa dönün

The idea

Ask with nerede: Eczane nerede? needs no verb. Answer with the place and its position (köşede, sağda), or give the route with the polite command ending -in/-ın/-un/-ün after a consonant: gidin, dönün. The side you turn to takes the dative: sağa, sola, köşeye kadar.

Examples

• Pardon, eczane nerede?Excuse me, where is the pharmacy?Nerede already means “where is it”, so no verb “to be” is needed: a place name plus nerede is a full question.
• Postane buraya yakın mı?Is the post office near here?The question word mı is written apart and takes its vowel from the word before it: yakın mı.
• Banka köşede, sağda.The bank is on the corner, on the right.Where something is takes the locative: köşede, sağda. The sentence needs no verb.
• Düz gidin, sonra sağa dönün.Go straight, then turn right.The polite command ends in -in after a consonant: gid-in, dön-ün. The t of git softens to d before the vowel.
• Köprüden sonra sola dönün.Turn left after the bridge.Sonra (after) asks for the ablative on the word before it: köprüden sonra, never köprü sonra.
• Müzeye nasıl giderim?How do I get to the museum?Giderim (“I go”) is learnt here as a ready-made route question; its tense lies beyond A1. The y in müzeye keeps two vowels apart.
• sağato the rightsağ·a-e / -a / -ye / -ya: to, towards
• köşedenfrom the cornerköşe·den-den / -dan / -ten / -tan: from, out of

Watch out

To turn, use the dative, not the locative: sağa dönün. Sağda dönün would mean that you turn while you are already on the right. Also, the command from git is gidin: the t softens before a vowel, so gitin is a misspelling.

Try it yourself

1. Add the suffix: turn to the right.

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   sağa

   sağa: you turn towards the right, so the dative -a follows the back vowel of sağ; sağda would only say where you already are.

2. Make the polite command from git (go).

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   gidin

   gidin: git ends in t, which becomes d when a vowel follows, and the last vowel i gives -in.

3. Fill in the question word: Where is the pharmacy?

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   nerede

   nerede: the question asks where something is, not where to; a movement question would use nereye.

4. Add the suffix: after the bridge, turn left.

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   köprüden

   köprüden: sonra (after) wants the ablative on the word before it, and the front vowel ü with the voiced r gives -den.

Use it today

Write a short dialogue: you ask about three places in your town and a stranger answers each time with one direction. Check every direction suffix.