Directions and locations, lesson 2

Hello! And welcome to your daily pinch of Spanish. Today I want to continue with directions. I will tell you the words for north, south, east, and west, and also, more words you can use to give and ask directions. Let's get started! As always, I've written a pronunciation guide in parenthesis; you can read more about Spanish pronunciation here, or click the link above the page. (*This page doesn't exist for now, while I remake my blog here. Sorry about that! I am rebuilding everything here.)

- Norte (Nohr-teh) - North Sur (soor)

- South Este (Ehs-te) - East Oeste (Oh-ehs-teh)

- West To tell a person you need to go in any of these directions, you can use any of the following words, as follows: -Hacial el Norte - To the North Hacia translates to 'toward'

-Necesito ir al Sur - I need to go to the South

Necesito translates to 'I need'; ir translates to 'to go'

- Está hacia el Este - It's (located) to the East Está translates to 'is', in this case, it refers to existing in a location.

- Tiene que seguir hacia el Oeste - You have to continue to the West The word tiene is the formal version of the word tienes, which is a form of the verb tener and it translates to 'have'. Seguir translates to 'continue'.

More location and direction words: - Izquierda (ees-kee-ehr-dah) - the left

- Derecha (deh-reh-chah) - the right

- Frente a (frehn-teh ah) - front, opposite (something)

- Delante (deh-lahn-teh) - in front, before, opposite (something)

*Both these are similar in meaning. But delante to my understanding (in how I use it as a native speaker) is closer, like more intimate than frente a. I'll give you examples: Está frente al edificio rojo - it's in front of the red building Se detuvo delante del espejo - (he, she) Stopped in front of the mirror BUT it can be used for the same exact purposes. It's the same.

- Detrás (deh-trahs) - behind, at the back

- Atrás (ah-trahs) - behind

*The same as above, these two have a similar meaning, but the word atrás can also be used to give directions, when you need to tell a person to move back. I'll give you examples:

Está detrás de ti - it's behind you.

Tienes que volver atrás, nos pasamos del lugar - you have to go back, we missed the place.

You can't use detrás for directions like this; only to locate things that are behind something, or at the back of something.

- Al lado (ahl lah-doh) - on the side, to the side, at the side

- Al lado de (ahl lah-doh deh) - next to, beside

*You can also say it with izquierda and derecha to specify locations: Al lado izquierdo de - at the left side of Al lado derecho - at the right side of (Notice that the 'a' at the end changed to 'o'.)

*There is also de lado which means 'sideways'.

- Adelante (ah-deh-lahn-teh) ahead, forward, forwards, to the front Use this one for directions. For example: Siga hacia adelante - continue forward/ahead.

If yo need to ask where something is located, use the question word ¿Dónde?

¿Dónde encuentro ese lugar? - Where can I find that place?

¿Dónde está localizado? - Where is it located?

¿Dónde queda? - Where is it located?

¿Dónde está? - Where is it? 

To read the lesson about question words, click here. (*This link doesn't work for now, while I rebuild my blog. Sorry about that! I had to delete my old website.) 

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This is it for today! I hope you enjoyed this lesson. If you have any questions, don't doubt in contacting me. I will answer all your questions on my Twitter page or my Facebook page. Do share and follow! Thank you for reading, and I hope you have a nice day :) Until next time!