Asking For Directions: Lesson One

Some useful Spanish phrases for asking questions
Note: Spanish is not the same as English when relating to written questions. The sentence starts with an upside down question mark and finishes (like English) with a question mark.

¿ dónde está = where is...
e.g. ¿dónde está el teatro? = where is the theatre?
e.g. ¿dónde está el cine? = where is the cinema?
e.g. ¿dónde está la catedral? = where is the cathedral?
Note: why are some nouns prefixed by 'el' and others by 'la ' e.g. el cine or la catedral?
The reason is in Spanish before each noun it has an 'el = masculine' or a 'la = feminine'.

Exercise: Putting the above into practice using the example of asking directions for the cinema…

After asking ¿dónde está el cine? (where is the cinema?) you may wish to know how far away it is…. You would do this by saying
¿está lejos? = is it far? (is it a long way) Or you could say:
¿a qué distancia queda? = how far is it?

Or perhaps you wish to know if you are going the right way
¿voy bien para el cine? = am I going the right way for the cinema?
BUT you will need to understand what he/she replies!
Está = it's
a dos/tres/cuatro cuadras = two/three/four blocks away
a la/su izquierda = on the/your left
a la derecha = on the right
en la esquina = on the corner
al otro lado de la calle = across the road
gira = turn
a la izquierda = left
a la derecha = right
vaya todo derecho = go straight ahead...
es la próxima a la izquierda = it's the next left
es la próxima a la derecha = it's the next right
después de la catedral = after the Cathedral

We hope you enjoyed your Spanish asking questions lesson!

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