Learn Turkish: Labirentte kaybolmadan kısayola doğru ilerlememiz lazımdı. - We had to advance towards the shortcut without getting lost in the maze.

The word doğru acts as a postposition meaning "towards" (for a direction) or "around" (for a time) when it follows a noun in the dative case. Here, kısayol (shortcut) takes the dative suffix -a to become kısayola. Together, kısayola doğru translates as "towards the shortcut".

Why does the sentence use ilerlememiz lazımdı instead of a regular past-tense verb?

To say that someone "had to" do something using the word lazım (necessary), you must use a verbal noun. The verb ilerle- (to advance) takes the verbal noun suffix -me and the first-person plural possessive -miz (our), creating ilerlememiz (our advancing). Then, the past tense suffix -dı is added to lazım. Literally, the structure means "our advancing was necessary."

What suffix gives kaybolmadan the meaning of "without getting lost"?

The suffix -madan (or -meden, depending on vowel harmony) attaches directly to the verb root kaybol- (to get lost). This suffix turns a verb into an adverb meaning "without doing [the action]" or "before doing [the action]". Here, it means "without getting lost".

Why is the verb kaybolmak written as a single word?