Directions & Getting Around
दिशाएँ और आना-जाना
Asking for and giving directions puts the imperative and two-way prepositions into practice — the German imperative drops the pronoun entirely, just like Hindi's जाओ/जाइए.
Grammar Comparison
व्याकरण तुलना
The du-imperative: drop the ending, drop the pronoun — the same split as Hindi's तुम/आप
Geh geradeaus! (Go straight ahead!) / Biegen Sie links ab! (Turn left! — formal)
सीधे जाओ! / बाएँ मुड़िए! (औपचारिक)
Hindi already makes a clear split between the informal command ("जाओ") and the formal command ("जाइए") — just like German. The informal (du) imperative is formed by dropping both the pronoun and the -st ending from the du-form: du gehst → Geh! The formal (Sie) imperative instead keeps Sie and just flips the word order, verb first: Sie biegen ab → Biegen Sie ab! Note that separable verbs like abbiegen ("to turn") still split in the imperative, with the prefix landing at the end — exactly like in ordinary present-tense sentences.
Vocabulary
शब्दावली
| German | Pronunciation | Hindi | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| geradeaus | geh-RAH-deh-ows | सीधेsīdhe | straight ahead |
| links | links | बाएँbāeñ | left |
| rechts | rekhts | दाएँdāeñ | right |
| Wo ist...? | voh ist | ... कहाँ है?... kahāñ hai? | Where is...? |
| die Straße | dee SHTRAH-seh | सड़कsaṛak | the street |
| die Ecke | dee EK-keh | कोना / चौराहाkonā | the corner |
| die Ampel | dee AHM-pel | ट्रैफ़िक लाइटṭraifik lāiṭ | the traffic light |
| in der Nähe | in dair NAY-eh | पास मेंpās meñ | nearby |
| abbiegen | AHP-bee-gen | मुड़नाmuṛnā | to turn (off) |
| Gehen Sie geradeaus. | GAY-en zee geh-RAH-deh-ows | सीधे जाइए। (औपचारिक)sīdhe jāie | Go straight ahead. (formal) |