Basic directions: Directions

💬 [側] means "side," and in compounds like [左側] and [右側] it's usually said (gawa), not the dictionary reading you might expect. You can reuse the pattern with other locations too, like [向こう側] for "the other side."

💬 [側] means "side," and in compounds like [右側] and [左側] it's usually said (gawa), not the dictionary reading you might expect. You can reuse the pattern with other locations too, like [向こう側] for "the other side."

💬 [折] here means "turn," so [左折] is literally "left turn." You'll see the same pattern in [右折] for "right turn," especially on signs and in driving directions.

💬 [折] here means "turn," so [右折] is literally "right turn." You'll see the same pattern in [左折] for "left turn," especially on signs and in driving directions.

💬 [進んで] is the [て] form of [進む], which often links to what comes next: "[go straight, and then…]". In directions, [まっすぐ] often works like an adverb before the verb, as in [まっすぐ行って] too.

💬 [ここ] means "here," and [に] marks the place something is or goes, so [ここに] is literally "at/in here." You can swap in other place words the same way: [そこに] "there" and [あそこに] "over there."