Kan u regs draai en dan reguit loop sonder om by die eerste deur in te gaan?

Yes. Kan u literally means Can you.

In this sentence, Kan u ... ? is being used as a polite way to ask someone to do something, much like English Can you ... ? or Could you ... ?

• kan = can
• u = you (formal/polite)

So Kan u regs draai ... ? is a polite instruction/request: Can you turn right ... ?

U is the polite or formal word for you in Afrikaans.
Jy is the informal subject form, and jou is the informal object/possessive form.

So:

• Kan u ... ? = polite/formal
• Kan jy ... ? = informal

A native English speaker may notice that English usually uses just you, but Afrikaans still has this formal distinction in some situations.

Yes, regs means right, as in the direction.

In regs draai, it means turn right.

Examples:

• Draai links = Turn left
• Draai regs = Turn right

So Kan u regs draai ... ? means Can you turn right ... ?

Both word orders can occur, but regs draai is a normal and natural way to express turn right in Afrikaans.

Afrikaans often allows directional adverbs like links, regs, and reguit to appear before the verb in infinitive-like structures or after modal verbs.

Here the structure is:

• Kan u
  • regs draai

This is a common pattern after a modal verb like kan.

Dan means then.

It shows the sequence of actions:

1. regs draai = turn right
2. dan reguit loop = then walk straight

So it connects the two instructions in order.

Reguit means straight.

So:

• reguit loop = walk straight / go straight

It is commonly used for directions.

Examples:

• Loop reguit = Walk straight
• Gaan reguit aan = Go straight ahead

Yes, gaan could also work in many contexts, but loop specifically means walk.

So:

• reguit loop = walk straight
• reguit gaan = go straight

Because the sentence is giving directions to someone who is physically moving through a building or hallway, loop is very natural.

This is a very important Afrikaans structure.

Sonder om ... te ... means without ... -ing or without to ... in a literal sense.

In this sentence:

• sonder om ... in te gaan = without going in ...

So the full part: sonder om by die eerste deur in te gaan means without going in at the first door / more natural English: without going in through the first door

This pattern is very common:

• sonder om te praat = without speaking
• sonder om te kyk = without looking
• sonder om in te gaan = without going in

Because this is a standard Afrikaans infinitive construction.

Afrikaans often uses:

• om ... te + infinitive

After sonder, the pattern is usually:

• sonder om ... te + verb

Here the verb is separable:

• ingaan = go in / enter

So when it appears in this structure, it splits:

• in te gaan

That is why you get:

• sonder om ... in te gaan

This may feel unusual to English speakers, but it is completely normal in Afrikaans grammar.

Because ingaan is a separable verb.

The full verb is:

• ingaan = to go in / to enter

But in certain sentence structures, especially with te, the prefix separates:

• om in te gaan = to go in
• sonder om in te gaan = without going in

This is similar to how separable verbs work in Dutch and German.

Other examples:

• opstaan = to get up
  om op te staan = to get up
• uitgaan = to go out
  om uit te gaan = to go out

By die eerste deur literally means at the first door.

In English, we might naturally say:

• through the first door
• into the first door
• at the first door

Afrikaans often uses by in places where English might use at, by, or sometimes a different preposition depending on context.

Here, by die eerste deur in te gaan means entering at/through the first door.

So the idea is: without going in through the first door

Because eerste is the ordinal number first.

• een = one
• eerste = first

So:

• die eerste deur = the first door

This works like English:

• die tweede deur = the second door
• die derde deur = the third door

Here, deur is the noun meaning door.

Afrikaans also has deur as a preposition meaning through, so that can confuse learners.

Compare:

• die deur = the door
• deur die venster = through the window

In your sentence, deur is definitely the noun:

• die eerste deur = the first door

After the modal verb kan, Afrikaans uses the main verbs in their basic form at the end of the verbal phrases.

A rough breakdown is:

• Kan u = Can you
• regs draai = turn right
• en dan reguit loop = and then walk straight
• sonder om by die eerste deur in te gaan = without going in through the first door

So the structure is: Kan u + action 1 + en dan + action 2 + negative/limiting phrase

This is very typical Afrikaans word order after a modal verb.

Yes. If you want to say it informally, you would usually replace u with jy:

Kan jy regs draai en dan reguit loop sonder om by die eerste deur in te gaan?

That means the same thing, but sounds less formal and more casual.

Grammatically, it is a question. But functionally, it is often a polite request or instruction.

Just like in English:

• Can you turn right and then walk straight ... ?

This is not really asking about ability. It is usually a polite way of telling someone what to do.

So in context, it probably means: Please turn right and then walk straight, without going in through the first door.