Learn Hardcore Russian: Мой брат повернул налево на длинной улице. - My brother turned left on the long street.

Налево is an adverb of direction answering the question “куда?” (where to?). Russian has a set of common directional adverbs like налево (to the left), направо (to the right) and прямо (straight ahead). They require no preposition and describe movement or turning.

Why does длинной end in –ой instead of –ая?

Длинной is the feminine singular adjective in the prepositional case. The base adjective is длинный (long). When you put a feminine noun like улица into the prepositional case after на, you get на длинной улице. The typical feminine ending for the prepositional is –ой.

What case is улице, and why is it used here?

Улице is in the prepositional case (also called locative). In Russian, the preposition на meaning “on” or “at” when talking about location (“on the street”) always takes the prepositional case. That yields на улице → на длинной улице.

Why do we say мой брат and not моя брат?

In Russian, adjectives and possessives agree in gender, number and case with the noun they modify. Брат is a masculine noun, so “my brother” is мой брат (not моя which is feminine).

Why does the verb повернул end in –л and not –ла?

In the past tense, Russian verbs agree with the subject in gender and number. Here the subject is брат (a masculine, singular noun). So the past-tense form of повернуть is повернул (masculine). If the subject were feminine (e.g. сестра), you’d say повернула.

Why use the perfective повернул instead of the imperfective поворачивал?

Perfective verbs (like повернуть) indicate a single, completed action—“he turned (once).” Imperfective verbs (like поворачивать) describe ongoing, habitual or repeated actions. Since this sentence reports a specific finished turn, the perfective повернул is appropriate.

Are налево and влево interchangeable?

Yes, both налево and влево mean “to the left.” Налево is more common in everyday speech and in fixed expressions like повернуть налево. Влево is also correct but slightly more formal or bookish.

Can I change the word order, for example to Мой брат налево повернул?

Russian word order is fairly flexible due to its case system. You can say Мой брат налево повернул, but it sounds marked or poetic. The neutral, most common order is Мой брат повернул налево (Subject – Verb – Adverb). Changing the order shifts emphasis (e.g. stressing налево if you front it).