Au prochain rond-point, tu tournes à droite, puis tu traverses au passage piéton.

Au is the contraction of à + le, so au prochain rond-point literally means at the next roundabout.

• à le → au
• prochain rond-point = next roundabout

In directions, French often uses à to mark the point where you should do something:

• Au feu, tu tournes à gauche. = At the traffic light, you turn left.
• Au carrefour, tu continues tout droit. = At the intersection, you continue straight ahead.

So au prochain rond-point means when you get to the next roundabout or at the next roundabout.

In French, many common adjectives come before the noun, and prochain is one of them in this kind of everyday use.

So:

• le prochain rond-point = the next roundabout

Not:

• le rond-point prochain in normal modern French

This is just standard adjective placement. Other common examples are:

• la prochaine rue = the next street
• le dernier bus = the last bus
• un petit café = a small café

French often uses the present tense to give directions or instructions in a direct, conversational way.

So:

• tu tournes à droite literally looks like you turn right
• but in context it means turn right

English does something similar in some contexts:

• You go straight, then you turn left.

French could also use the imperative:

• Tourne à droite, puis traverse au passage piéton.

But tu tournes... puis tu traverses... sounds very natural when explaining a route step by step.

Yes. Tu is the informal singular you. If you are speaking politely, formally, or to more than one person, you would use vous.

Compare:

• Tu tournes à droite. = You turn right. / Turn right.
• Vous tournez à droite. = You turn right. / Turn right.

So the sentence is informal, as if speaking to one person you know well, a friend, a child, or someone in a casual setting.

In French, directions like to the right and to the left are normally expressed with à:

• à droite = to the right / on the right
• à gauche = to the left / on the left

So:

• tourner à droite = to turn right
• tourner à gauche = to turn left

You generally need the à here. Saying just tourner droite would be incorrect.

Un rond-point means a roundabout or traffic circle.

It is:

• masculine: le rond-point
• written with a hyphen

Examples:

• au rond-point
• le prochain rond-point
• les ronds-points

For many learners, this is one of those fixed pieces of road vocabulary that is best memorized as a whole expression.

Puis means then or next. It shows the next step in a sequence.

So:

• tu tournes à droite, puis tu traverses... means
• you turn right, then you cross...

Compared with other words:

• et = and
  
  • just links ideas
• puis = then / and then
  
  • emphasizes sequence
• ensuite = then / afterwards / next
  
  • also very common in directions

All three can appear in route instructions, but puis is especially neat and natural for one step followed by another.

Traverser means to cross.

So:

• tu traverses = you cross

It is the normal verb to use when crossing:

• a street: traverser la rue
• a road: traverser la route
• a square: traverser la place

In this sentence, the idea is that after turning right, you cross at the pedestrian crossing.

A learner may expect something like passer, but traverser is the standard verb for physically going from one side to the other.

Un passage piéton means a pedestrian crossing or crosswalk.

So:

• au passage piéton = at the pedestrian crossing / at the crosswalk

Here, au again means at the or by the. The sentence is saying that you should cross at that designated crossing point, not just anywhere.

This is a very common road-safety expression:

• Traversez au passage piéton. = Cross at the crosswalk.

You may also hear slightly different phrasing depending on region or context, but passage piéton is the key vocabulary item to remember.

Because there are two separate clauses:

• tu tournes à droite
• puis tu traverses au passage piéton

In French, repeating the subject is normal and usually necessary when you start a new clause with a new conjugated verb.

English can sometimes sound fine with less repetition, but French usually prefers the full structure:

• tu tournes..., puis tu traverses...

That makes the sequence clear and natural.

In form, it looks like a description in the present tense, but in context it functions as an instruction.

That is very common in spoken French when giving directions. A speaker says what you do step by step:

• Tu continues tout droit.
• Tu prends la deuxième rue à gauche.
• Tu tournes à droite.

So although the grammar is present tense, the real meaning is instructional: this is what you should do next.

Yes, absolutely. The imperative version would be:

• Au prochain rond-point, tourne à droite, puis traverse au passage piéton.

That is a more direct command form. Both are natural, but they feel slightly different:

• Tu tournes... = conversational, explanatory, step-by-step guidance
• Tourne... = direct instruction

When giving someone directions in everyday speech, French speakers often use either one.