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Today we’re going to learn how to ask for and how to give directions.

Com licença, estou perdido.
Estou procurando a Rua Vinícius de Moraes.

Siga por esta rua aqui, direto.
Vire à esquerda no próximo sinal.
Depois, vire à direita.
Irá ver o supermercado Sendas.
Então vire à direita nesta esquina.

Valeu irmão!

First, the polite way to get someone’s attention is by saying excuse me: com licença. This can apply to many social situations, when you’d like to talk to someone or ask someone a question. It’s okay to admit you don’t know where you are or where you’re going, with a simple “I’m lost”: estou perdido.

“I’m looking for” is estou procurando. Then we say the name of the place or street, in this case, a street: a Rua Vinícius de Moraes.

We use the phrase seguir por for “go,” and the word direto is “straight.” Together, “Go straight on this road” becomes siga por esta rua aqui, direto.

Next, we use the verb virar for “turn.” To say “turn left,” we say vire à esquerda, and to say “turn right,” we say vire à direita. Note that we use the imperative form of virar (vire) since we are telling a person what to do. Also note that “left” and “right” are a esquerda and a direita alone, but when paired with a directional verb like virar, get a grave accent on the a (à).

Let’s take a look at some of the key nouns. Sinal is stoplight, so we say “turn right at the next stoplight” with vire à esquerda no próximo sinal. Depois is “next,” or “after.” Então is “then.”

When giving directions in any language, it’s important to give landmarks. So in this case, the speaker mentions “Sendas supermarket” (o supermercado Sendas) which is a Rio supermarket chain. We use the future tense here, saying, “You will see” (irá ver), since we aren’t giving orders, but rather making a prediction about the future.

Finally, então vire à direita nesta esquina means “Then turn right at the corner.” We know to use the subjunctive, since we’re telling the person what to do. We use nesta, “this” since we are referring directly to the particular corner where Sendas supermarket is located.

As a review, valeu is a slangy way of saying thanks. Irmão is another slang word, which literally means brother, but in context means “man.” So valeu irmão means “thanks, man!”

Click here to see the BYKI vocab list!