Directions & Getting Around
Directions & Getting Around
Asking for and giving directions puts imperative verb forms and two-way prepositions into practice — German imperatives drop the pronoun entirely, unlike the optional "you" in casual English commands.
Grammar Comparison
Grammar Comparison
The du-imperative: drop the ending, drop the pronoun
Geh geradeaus! (Go straight ahead!) / Biegen Sie links ab! (Turn left! — formal)
Go straight ahead! / Turn left! (formal)
English commands optionally keep an implied "you" and use the plain verb ("Go straight"). German's informal (du) imperative is built by taking the du-form and dropping both the pronoun and the -st ending: du gehst → Geh! The formal (Sie) imperative instead keeps Sie and simply inverts word order, verb first: Sie biegen ab → Biegen Sie ab! Note also that separable verbs like abbiegen ("to turn off") split apart in the imperative too, with the prefix landing at the end, exactly as in normal present-tense sentences.
Vocabulary
Vocabulary
| German | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| geradeaus | geh-RAH-deh-ows | straight ahead |
| links | links | left |
| rechts | rekhts | right |
| Wo ist...? | voh ist | Where is...? |
| die Straße | dee SHTRAH-seh | the street |
| die Ecke | dee EK-keh | the corner |
| die Ampel | dee AHM-pel | the traffic light |
| in der Nähe | in dair NAY-eh | nearby |
| abbiegen | AHP-bee-gen | to turn (off) |
| Gehen Sie geradeaus. | GAY-en zee geh-RAH-deh-ows | Go straight ahead. (formal) |