Learn Hardcore Russian: Новая грамматическая тема: направления «север, юг, восток, запад» помогают объяснить, куда мы едем или идём. - New grammar topic: the directions “north, south, east, west” help explain where we are going by vehicle or on foot.

тема (topic) is feminine, singular, nominative.
грамматическая is an adjective meaning grammatical, and it agrees with тема in:
- gender: feminine
- number: singular
- case: nominative
новая (new) is also an adjective and must agree with тема in the same way.

So:

masculine: новый грамматический раздел (a new grammatical section)
feminine: новая грамматическая тема
neuter: новое грамматическое правило (a new grammatical rule)

Why is there a colon after Новая грамматическая тема?

In Russian, a colon is often used after a general statement when it is followed by an explanation, list, or example.

Here:

Новая грамматическая тема: is the general statement (“The new grammatical topic is:”).
What follows (направления «север, юг, восток, запад» помогают…) explains what that topic is.

So the colon introduces the explanation of what the new grammatical topic consists of.

What is the grammatical role of направления «север, юг, восток, запад» in the sentence?

направления «север, юг, восток, запад» is the subject of the verb помогают.

The main noun направления (directions) is:
- plural
- nominative case
The words север, юг, восток, запад are in nominative too and act as an apposition, specifying which directions.

So the full subject is “the directions north, south, east, west”, and that’s why the verb is in the 3rd person plural: помогают.

Why is помогают (not помогает) used here?

Помогают is 3rd person plural present tense of помогать (to help).

The subject is направления «север, юг, восток, запад»:

направления is plural, so the verb must agree and be plural.
Therefore: они помогают (they help), not оно помогает (it helps).

If the subject were singular, it would be помогает, for example:

Это направление помогает… – “This direction helps…”

Why do we use куда and not где in объяснить, куда мы едем или идём?

In Russian:

куда means “to where / where to” (direction, motion towards something).
где means “where” (location, no movement implied).

The verbs едем and идём express movement to a place, so we need a word that asks about direction. That’s exactly what куда does.

Compare:

Куда ты идёшь? – Where are you going (to)?
Где ты? – Where are you?

What is the difference between едем and идём here?

Both verbs mean “we are going”, but:

идти / идём – going on foot (walking)
ехать / едем – going by transport (car, bus, train, etc.)

The sentence uses both:

куда мы едем или идём – “where we are going by transport or on foot.”

It’s contrasting the two main ways of moving: walking vs. using a vehicle.

Are едем and идём present or future tense here?

Grammatically, едем and идём are present tense forms:

мы идём – we are going (on foot) now / in general
мы едем – we are going (by transport) now / in general

But with куда and a clear destination, Russian present-tense verbs of motion often refer to a near future or planned action:

Куда мы идём завтра? – Where are we going tomorrow?

In your sentence, it’s more general: directions help explain where we (typically / in general) go. Context makes it generic rather than “right this second”.

What case would normally follow куда, and why don’t we see it explicitly here?

Куда is followed by a destination in the accusative case when the destination is expressed:

Куда мы идём? – В школу. (Accusative: школа → в школу)
Куда вы едете? – На юг. (Accusative: юг → на юг)

In the sentence куда мы едем или идём, the actual destination is not given; it’s left implicit. We’re just saying “where we’re going,” not “where we’re going to X,” so no noun in the accusative appears after куда here.

What are the quotation marks « » around север, юг, восток, запад?

These are Russian-style quotation marks, often called ёлочки (“little fir trees”):

Opening: «
Closing: »

They are used like English quotation marks but are the standard typographical form in Russian printed text.

Here they mark the specific example words север, юг, восток, запад as terms or quoted items, corresponding to English: “north, south, east, west”.

What gender and number is направления, and how do I recognize it?

The singular form is направление (direction):

Neuter
Singular
Nominative

The plural is направления:

Neuter plural in meaning, but adjectives/verbs agree as plural (Russian does not distinguish gender in plural agreement).
Here it’s nominative plural, because it is the subject.

You recognize it by:

Singular: -ие ending (направление)
Plural nominative: -ия ending (направления)

This pattern is common:

здание → здания (building → buildings)
правило → правила (rule → rules)

Why isn’t there a preposition like на север in the phrase with the directions?

In this sentence, север, юг, восток, запад are not used as destinations; they just name the concepts of the directions themselves.

направления «север, юг, восток, запад» = “the directions ‘north, south, east, west’” (as abstract labels)

When you talk about actually going toward a direction, you would use a preposition:

Мы едем на север. – We are going to the north.
Птицы летят на юг. – Birds are flying to the south.

Could you rephrase the sentence more literally in English to see the structure?

A closer, structure-focused translation would be:

New grammatical topic: the directions “north, south, east, west” help to explain where (to) we are going (by transport) or (on foot).

You can see the parts line up:

Новая грамматическая тема: – New grammatical topic:
направления «север, юг, восток, запад» – the directions “north, south, east, west”
помогают объяснить – help (to) explain
куда мы едем или идём – where (to) we go by transport or on foot.