Getting around a Turkish city means asking strangers the way and parsing their rapid-fire reply, so this page drills the exact grammar that carries directions: where you are going (the dative), where things are (the locative), and the stream of imperatives a helpful local will fire at you. The exchange below is an original dialogue written for this guide, between a lost visitor and a passer-by near a metro station. Read it through, then work the annotations.
The dialogue
Affedersiniz, Sultanahmet'e nasıl giderim?
Excuse me, how do I get to Sultanahmet?
Buradan tramvayla gidilir. Durak çok yakın.
From here you go by tram. The stop is very close.
Durağa nasıl giderim peki?
And how do I get to the stop then?
Düz git, sonra ilk köşeden sağa dön.
Go straight, then turn right at the first corner.
Tamam, sağa döndüm. Sonra?
Okay, I turned right. Then?
Eczanenin yanında bir durak göreceksin.
You'll see a stop next to the pharmacy.
Eczane caddenin solunda mı?
Is the pharmacy on the left side of the street?
Evet, bankanın tam karşısında. Şaşırmazsın.
Yes, right across from the bank. You won't get lost.
Yürüyerek kaç dakika sürer?
How many minutes does it take on foot?
Beş dakika sürmez. Kolay gelsin!
It won't take five minutes. Take it easy! / Good luck with it!
Line-by-line
Line 1 — "Affedersiniz, Sultanahmet'e nasıl giderim?" Affedersiniz ("excuse me," siz form) is how you flag down a stranger. The grammatical core is the dative of destination: where you are going to takes the suffix -(y)A — Sultanahmet + -e → Sultanahmet'e ("to Sultanahmet"). English uses a preposition to; Turkish uses a suffix glued onto the place. (Note the apostrophe: proper nouns separate their suffix with an apostrophe — Sultanahmet'e.) The verb giderim is git- ("go") in the aorist, "how do I go / how would I get?" The dative-vs-locative split is the focus of choosing/dative-vs-locative.
Line 2 — "Buradan tramvayla gidilir. Durak çok yakın." Buradan = "from here" — motion from a place takes the ablative -DAn. Tramvayla = "by tram" (instrumental -la). The star of the line is gidilir, an impersonal passive: git- + -il- (passive) + aorist = "(one) goes / it is gone," i.e. "you get there by…" with no specific subject. Turkish loves this for general instructions where English uses "you" or "one" — see syntax/impersonal-passive. Durak çok yakın = "the stop is very close" (zero copula, no "is").
Line 3 — "Durağa nasıl giderim peki?" The dative again, this time on a common noun: durak ("stop") + -a → durağa. Watch the consonant change: the final k of durak softens to ğ when a vowel suffix follows — durak → durağa. This k → ğ softening is routine and you will meet it constantly. Peki here ≈ "okay then / and…", a discourse pivot.
Line 4 — "Düz git, sonra ilk köşeden sağa dön." Now the imperatives pour in. Düz git = "go straight" (git, the bare 2nd-singular command). Sağa dön = "turn right" — and notice sağa is dative (sağ "right" + -a), because you are turning to the right; likewise sola dön "turn left." İlk köşeden = "at/from the first corner," ablative, the point you turn off from. These bare imperatives are the sen form; to a stranger you may hear the politer siz form dönün, gidin (see verbs/imperative).
Line 5 — "Tamam, sağa döndüm. Sonra?" Tamam = "okay." Döndüm = "I turned," the simple past (dön- + -dü- + -m). Sonra? = "then? / and after?" — a one-word prompt to keep the directions coming.
Line 6 — "Eczanenin yanında bir durak göreceksin." This line stacks two big patterns. First, the landmark locative: eczanenin yanında = "next to the pharmacy," built as a genitive-possessive frame — eczane + genitive -nin ("of the pharmacy") + yan ("side") + possessive -ı + locative -nda = literally "at the pharmacy's side." Turkish expresses next to, across from, behind, in front of as possessed location nouns (yanı, karşısı, arkası, önü), all taking this X'in Y-sinde shape. Second, göreceksin = "you'll see," the future tense (gör- + -ecek- + -sin).
Line 7 — "Eczane caddenin solunda mı?" The same landmark pattern with a different relational noun: caddenin solunda = "on the left of the street" (cadde + genitive + sol "left" + possessive + locative). The yes/no particle mı turns it into a check question, "is it…?"
Line 8 — "Evet, bankanın tam karşısında. Şaşırmazsın." Bankanın tam karşısında = "right across from the bank" — karşısı ("its opposite side") in the same possessive-locative frame, with tam ("exactly/right") tightening it. Şaşırmazsın = "you won't get confused / you can't miss it," the negative aorist (şaşır- "be confused" + -maz- + -sın), the form Turkish uses for general predictions and reassurances.
Line 9 — "Yürüyerek kaç dakika sürer?" Yürüyerek = "on foot / by walking," the -(y)ArAk converb ("by doing"): yürü- ("walk") + -yerek = "walking." Kaç dakika = "how many minutes" (and note dakika stays singular after kaç, just like after a number). Sürer = "it takes/lasts," aorist of sür-.
Line 10 — "Beş dakika sürmez. Kolay gelsin!" Sürmez = "it won't take" (negative aorist again). The send-off Kolay gelsin literally means "may it come easy" — a warm Turkish wish said to anyone who is working, walking, or about to undertake an effort. There is no neat English equivalent; "take it easy" or "good luck with it" gets the spirit.
Common mistakes
❌ Sultanahmet'te nasıl giderim?
Incorrect — that's the locative ('at Sultanahmet'); a destination needs the dative.
✅ Sultanahmet'e nasıl giderim?
How do I get to Sultanahmet?
❌ Eczanenin yanda bir durak var.
Incorrect — the relational noun needs the possessive: yanı + locative → yanında.
✅ Eczanenin yanında bir durak var.
There's a stop next to the pharmacy.
Key takeaways
- Destination = dative -(y)A: Sultanahmet'e, durağa, sağa dön. Don't substitute the locative.
- Source = ablative -DAn; location = locative -DA: buradan, köşeden; solda, durakta.
- The impersonal passive (gidilir) gives subject-free instructions — "you/one goes by…".
- Imperatives carry directions: düz git, sağa dön; politer siz forms are gidin, dönün.
- "Next to / across from" = possessed relational nouns in the X'in Y-sinde frame: yanında, karşısında, arkasında.
- Final k softens to ğ before a vowel suffix: durak → durağa.
Now practice Turkish
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Start learning Turkish→Related Topics
- Asking Directions and TransportA2 — Asking where places are and how to get there in Turkish — the dative for destinations, the impersonal passive for 'how does one get there', and basic transport phrases.
- Dative vs Locative: Motion vs LocationA1 — How to choose between dative -(y)A (motion toward a goal) and locative -DA (static location) — the split English blurs with 'in' and 'at'.
- Impersonal and Generic StatementsB2 — How Turkish says 'one', 'you', or 'people in general' — chiefly through the impersonal passive of intransitive verbs.
- The ImperativeA1 — The Turkish imperative is the bare verb stem for an informal 'you' command (gel! 'come!'), the polite -(y)In / -(y)InIz set for plural or formal address (gelin, geliniz, buyurun), and -sIn for third-person 'let him/her/it' commands (gelsin).