往和离

wang3 is a preposition used to indicate the direction of an action. It is often used in context with 走 and 拐 and uses a noun of direction as an object.

Example:

往东走 - walk towards the east

往南拐 - turn towards the south

The verb 离 is used to indicate the distance between two points. It is often used before adjectives such as 近 and 远. In order to indicate an exact distance, the structure 有。。。米 is used.

Example

银行离我家不远。- The bank is not far away from my home.

书店离银行很近. - The book store is very close to the bank.

地铁离学校有500米。- The subway is exactly 500m away from the school.

先。。。 然后

xian1 … ran2hou4 is a structure used in a compound sentence that indicates a succession. The sentence is formed using two clauses, which cannot be reversed in their order.

我先坐公共汽车，然后换地铁。- First, I take the bus, then I switch to the subway.

If 先 is used, 然后 cannot be omitted. But 然后 can be used without using 先 first.

Rememeber: 先 is an adverb, meaning you need to use a verb in conjunction with it. It is used after the subject and before the verb.

Sentences to ask/give directions with

There are quite a few phrases to ask for directions with. I will give a few phrases that might be useful when asking for or giving directions.

1. How to approach a person

There are a few different ways to approach someone. In order to be polite, one usually uses 请问 (qing3wen2). This translates to “Excuse me”, and is very formal. If you want to be a little less formal, you can also say 你好，我想问一下 (ni3hao3, wo3 xiang3 wen4 yo1xia4). which translates to “Hello, I would like to ask you”

Example:

请问，天安门(tian1an1men2)在哪儿？- Excuse me, where is Tiananmen?

你好，我想问一下， 天安门在哪儿？- Hello, I would like to ask, where is Tinanamen?

The two can be used interchangably most of the time, but the first one is a little more formal.

2. How to ask for directions

There are of course several ways to then actually ask the the question. The one we already learned is 在哪儿 (zai4nar3). Another option, introduced in this chapter anew is 怎么走 (zen3me zou3). It means “how to get there”, or, more literally, “How to walk there”.

Example：

请问，天安门怎么走。- Excuse me, how do I get to Tiananmen?

Directional phrases

Of course, to give directions, there are a couple of phrases that are important to remember.

If you want to say “go straight”, you can either say “直走”, which is more used in speaking today, or “一直走“， which means the same, but is a bit more how Chinese is taught in books.

One very important word in this context is 往 (wang3). It is used to introduce a direction, basically meaning “towards”. It is used whenever you want to indicate a direction. Basically, its role is to indicate which direction to face while walking.

Examples:

往前 - straight forward

往一直 - straight ahead

往右拐 - turn towards the right

往左拐 - turn towards the left

For these next few phrases, I will provide pinyin, as it will make them easier to read and they are a bit more complex than the usual simple example sentences.

从这儿一直往前走 - cong2 zher4 yi4zhi2 wang3 qian4 zou3 - from here, go straight ahead

十字路口往右拐 - shi2zi4lu4kou3 wang3 you4 guai3 - turn right at the intersection

过马路 - guo4 ma3lu4 - to cross the street

往前走大概五十米 - wang3 qian2 zou3 da4gai4 wu3shi2 mi3 - go forward for about 50 meters.

交通离很远。 jiao1tong1 li2 hen3 yuan3 - Public transport is really close by.