Directions are not a bag of place nouns. Catalan speakers rely on recurring packages such as anar a, arribar a, girar a la dreta, seguir recte, and hi ha. Each package selects its preposition, article, pronoun, and degree of politeness.
The baseline here is contemporary Central Catalan, with regional notes only where they affect a learner's choice. Once the frames are secure, you can substitute almost any destination or landmark without translating an English instruction word by word.
The pattern grid
| Stored pattern | Variable slot | Function |
|---|---|---|
| anar a + destination | person, tense, destination | go to a bounded destination |
| anar cap a + direction | direction or approximate goal | head toward |
| arribar a + place | place and tense | reach a destination |
| girar a la dreta/esquerra | direction; person | turn right/left |
| seguir recte / seguir + road | route and distance | continue straight/along |
| hi ha + landmark | thing located | say that something exists there |
| ser lluny/a prop | distance phrase | describe relative distance |
The verbs inflect freely—vaig, anàvem, arribareu—but their complements are not assembled afresh each time. Arribar selects a, and the direction phrases conventionally contain the definite article: a la dreta, a l'esquerra.
Demà anem a Girona amb tren i tornem al vespre.
Tomorrow we're going to Girona by train and coming back in the evening.
Quan arribis a l'estació de Sants, truca'm i baixaré a buscar-te.
When you get to Sants station, call me and I'll come down to meet you.
Going to, toward, and through
Use a for a destination: anar a l'hotel, arribar a Barcelona. With a masculine singular article, a + el contracts to al: al centre. Before la, there is no contraction: a la plaça. Before a vowel, the article elides: a l'aeroport.
Use cap a when the endpoint is a direction or approximate goal: ves cap al riu “head toward the river.” In careful standard writing the full form cap a is transparent; everyday pronunciation may reduce it. Use per for a route or space traversed: passa pel túnel, camina pel passeig.
Ves cap al centre i passa pel pont de pedra.
Head toward the center and go over the stone bridge.
English to therefore does not have one automatic Catalan replacement. The scene determines the frame: goal a, orientation cap a, path per. See the broader movement-preposition guide for less routine contrasts.
Giving directions: imperative plus route phrase
With one familiar addressee, everyday directions commonly use the tu imperative: gira, segueix, agafa, travessa. With a stranger addressed as vostè, use third-person forms: giri, segueixi, agafi, travessi. Plural vosaltres gives gireu, seguiu, agafeu, travesseu.
Segueix recte fins al semàfor i gira a l'esquerra.
Keep going straight to the traffic light and turn left. (informal singular)
Giri a la dreta després de la farmàcia i segueixi fins a la plaça.
Turn right after the pharmacy and continue to the square. (formal singular)
Agafar is the ordinary Central Catalan verb for taking transport: agafar el metro, un taxi, el tren. Prendre is also standard and may be preferred in formal instructions and in parts of the territory. (Regional: Valencian) agarrar occurs in speech, while agafar and prendre remain standard choices. Selecting Spanish tomar mechanically is risky: Catalan prendre exists, but the local everyday collocation may be agafar el tren.
Agafa la línia verda i baixa a la tercera parada.
Take the green line and get off at the third stop. (informal singular)
Hi ha and distance
Hi ha is the present existential construction: “there is/are.” Here hi is obligatory; it is not an optional translation of English there. Present ha stays singular even when the following noun is plural in the standard construction: hi ha dos caixers.
Hi ha una parada d'autobús davant de l'hotel.
There is a bus stop in front of the hotel.
Hi ha gaires revolts abans d'arribar al poble?
Are there many bends before reaching the village?
For distance, és lluny? is a complete question when the reference point is obvious. Add de for the reference point: és lluny d'aquí? The opposite is ser a prop (de). English uses is it far? too, but Catalan keeps these frames with ser, not a freely chosen location verb.
L'estació és gaire lluny d'aquí, o hi podem anar a peu?
Is the station very far from here, or can we walk there?
In questions and negatives, gaire is the natural non-affirmative degree word: és gaire lluny?, no és gaire lluny. In affirmative clauses use molt: és molt lluny.
Three substitutable frames
- Com puc arribar a + place? Replace the place: Com puc arribar al museu?
- Segueix/segueixi + route + fins a + landmark. Replace person, route, and landmark: Segueixi aquest carrer fins a la rotonda.
- Hi ha + service + a prop d'aquí? Replace the service: Hi ha una benzinera a prop d'aquí?
Perdoni, com puc arribar al mercat de Santa Caterina?
Excuse me, how can I get to Santa Caterina Market? (formal)
These are genuinely productive frames. What remains fixed is equally important: arribar a, fins a, and the hi of hi ha.
Polite questions before imperatives
An imperative is normal when someone has asked you for directions; it answers the request efficiently. To ask a stranger, open with perdoni or disculpi, then use em pot dir...? or the more deferential conditional em podria dir...?.
Disculpi, em podria dir on és l'andana número quatre?
Excuse me, could you tell me where platform four is? (formal)
On és...? asks where an identifiable place is. Hi ha...? asks whether a service or landmark exists. Compare On és l'oficina de turisme? with Hi ha cap oficina de turisme per aquí?
Mini-dialogue: finding the bus station
—Perdoni, l'estació d'autobusos és gaire lluny? —No, és a deu minuts. Segueixi recte per aquest carrer, giri a la dreta a la segona cantonada i veurà l'estació davant d'un supermercat. —Moltes gràcies. —De res, bon viatge!
—Excuse me, is the bus station very far? —No, it's ten minutes away. Continue straight along this street, turn right at the second corner, and you'll see the station in front of a supermarket. —Thank you very much. —You're welcome, have a good trip!
The stranger uses a polite opening; the answer switches naturally to formal imperatives. Bon viatge! is an appropriate leave-taking. By contrast, bon vent i barca nova literally wishes someone fair wind and a new boat but idiomatically dismisses them—roughly “good riddance.” It is not a cheerful substitute for bon viatge.
Literal image versus idiomatic function
Seguir recte literally evokes “continue straight” and functions as the default route instruction “go straight on.” Agafar el carrer de la dreta literally “take the street on the right” is idiomatic. English take a right, however, should not be rebuilt as prendre una dreta. Catalan normally says girar a la dreta.
A comprehensible but nonidiomatic alternative is continuï en una línia recta. It conveys the geometry, but sounds technical rather than like a person giving directions. Similarly, el lloc ferroviari might be deciphered for “train place,” but the stored noun is estació de tren. Phraseological competence chooses what speakers conventionally say.
Common Mistakes
❌ Com puc arribar el museu?
Incorrect: arribar selects the preposition a.
✅ Com puc arribar al museu?
How can I get to the museum?
❌ Gira a dreta després del banc.
Incorrect: the conventional direction phrase contains the definite article.
✅ Gira a la dreta després del banc.
Turn right after the bank.
❌ Ha una parada de metro aquí a prop.
Incorrect: existential haver requires the weak element hi.
✅ Hi ha una parada de metro aquí a prop.
There is a metro stop nearby.
❌ Pren una dreta a la rotonda.
A calque of English and reinforced by Spanish tomar; Catalan uses girar for this maneuver.
✅ Gira a la dreta a la rotonda.
Turn right at the roundabout.
Key Takeaways
- Destinations select a: anar a, arribar a. Direction selects cap a; a route often selects per.
- Keep the articles in a la dreta and a l'esquerra.
- Use familiar imperatives gira, segueix and formal giri, segueixi according to the relationship.
- Existential hi ha keeps hi and is standardly impersonal: hi ha dos hotels.
- Ask politely with Perdoni, em podria dir...?; answer directions efficiently with imperatives.
- A literally understandable construction can still sound technical or translated. Store complete travel frames.
Related Topics
- Conjugation of anarA1 — Complete contemporary conjugation of anar for movement, destinations, the periphrastic past, weak pronouns, and pronominal anar-se'n.
- Conjugation of arribarA2 — Complete contemporary conjugation of arribar for arrival, reaching a point, and managing to do something, with prepositions and regional standards.
- Conjugation of seguirA2 — Complete contemporary conjugation of seguir for following and continuing, including its incoative present, seguint, clitics, and regional forms.
- Paths, Sources, and GoalsA2 — Choose a, cap a, fins a, de, des de, and per to distinguish destinations, directions, endpoints, origins, starting boundaries, and routes.
- Polite and Indirect QuestionsB1 — How Catalan softens requests for information and action with the conditional, the imperfect, embedded questions, address forms, and service-register choices.
- Commands, Requests, and Pragmatic ForceA2 — Choose among Catalan imperatives, polite questions, conditional requests, and impersonal instructions without sounding abrupt or unnatural.