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Topic test · A1

Directions and asking the way test

13questions
8minutes
60%pass mark
Start the test Read the topic first

One question at a time, the clock runs. Answers stay closed like a real exam: you see every correct answer with its explanation at the end. Score 60% to finish the topic.

Topic test

13 questions, easy to hard

Pick an option and press «Next». You can go back and change it. Anything left blank counts as wrong.

The pharmacy is on the right. →

Die Apotheke ist rechts. There is no movement, it states a place — no nach.

Turn right at the corner. →

Biegen Sie an der Ecke rechts ab. Turning on a road is abbiegen; since it is a separable verb, ab goes to the end. drehen means turning something on its own axis.

Hamburg is in the north. →

der Norden = north

im Norden (= in dem Norden). The city is not moving, its position is stated. nach Norden is only used when you are travelling.

The post office is to the right of the church. →

rechts von der Kirche. When you say whose right it is, you add von and what follows is Dativ — die Kirche → der Kirche.

Which one means “you’re right”?

Du hast recht. Once the final -s drops, the meaning of direction is gone. Du bist rechts means “you are on the right”.

Which one is “Go straight ahead”?

The backbone of directions: geradeaus (straight on). Immer geradeaus! = keep going straight.

Which one means “opposite …”? — The post office is opposite the station.

gegenüber + Dativ = opposite. Don’t mix it up with gegen (against) — that is the preposition of collision.

What is the most natural way to open when asking a stranger the way?

Entschuldigung + a W-question: polite and clear. A stranger gets a proper Sie question.

Which one is “the second street on the left”?

The pattern for directions: die erste/zweite Straße links/rechts — ordinal number + direction.

Asking about distance: “Is it far?”

Distance is asked with weit: Ist es weit? — Nein, fünf Minuten zu Fuß.

The sentence “Die Apotheke ist auf der rechte Seite.” is correct.

False. It must be auf der rechten Seite. Here rechten is an adjective, so it takes an ending.

Gehen Sie die Straße .

Go along the street.

entlang. A phrase you hear all the time in directions: die Straße entlang (along the street).

Build the sentence: Take the second street on the left.

Tap the pieces to build the sentence

When giving directions, the imperative puts the verb first and the direction at the end of the sentence.
Quick rules

The rules in three lines

The full topic lives on its own page. This is only the core you need for the test.

  1. The four building blocks of directions

    links · rechts · geradeaus · an der Ecke. In the imperative: Gehen Sie geradeaus, dann links.

    Biegen Sie an der Ecke rechts ab.

  2. Location: liegt · ist · gegenüber

    Hamburg liegt im Norden. · Die Post ist rechts von der Kirche. · gegenüber dem Bahnhof (opposite, Dativ).

    Die Apotheke ist rechts.

  3. Asking: Entschuldigung + wo

    Entschuldigung, wo ist …? · Wie komme ich zum/zur …?

    Wie komme ich zum Bahnhof?

  4. recht lives in two worlds

    rechts = on the right; Du hast recht = you are right. Watch the final s.

    Du hast recht.

Traps

Commonly mixed up

Where a direct translation breaks. The hard questions come from here.

  • Biegen Sie rechts.

    Biegen Sie rechts ab.

    The verb is abbiegen; the separated part goes to the end.

  • gegenüber den Bahnhof

    gegenüber dem Bahnhof

    gegenüber takes the Dativ.

  • Hamburg liegt in Norden.

    Hamburg liegt im Norden.

    Compass points take an article: im Norden · im Süden.

  • Du hast rechts. (meaning “you’re right”)

    Du hast recht.

    rechts is a direction, recht is being right.