Week 10: Directions, Travel & Asking for Help

1. Asking for & Giving Directions

A small set of direction words, combined with "ಎಲ್ಲಿ" (elli, "where") from Week 11's question words — which you'll formally learn next week but can start borrowing now — covers most of what you need to navigate.

___ ಎಲ್ಲಿದೆ?          ___ ellide?          Where is ___?
ಎಡ                    Eḍa                  Left
ಬಲ                    Bala                 Right
ನೇರ ಹೋಗಿ              Nēra hōgi            Go straight
ಎಡಕ್ಕೆ ತಿರುಗಿ          Eḍakke tirugi        Turn left
ಬಲಕ್ಕೆ ತಿರುಗಿ          Balakke tirugi       Turn right
ಹತ್ತಿರ                Hattira              Near
ದೂರ                   Dūra                 Far
ಇಲ್ಲಿಂದ ಎಷ್ಟು ದೂರ?     Illinda eshtu dūra?  How far from here?

"ಎಲ್ಲಿದೆ?" (ellide, "where is...") slots directly after any noun — "bus stop ellide?" (where is the bus stop?), "hotel ellide?" (where is the hotel?) — and works whether or not you know the Kannada word for the thing you're looking for, since place names and many nouns are often used as-is or borrowed from English in casual speech.

2. Transportation Vocabulary

Karnataka's everyday transport options each have their own simple, mostly borrowed-and-adapted name.

ಬಸ್ಸು     Bassu     Bus              ಆಟೋ      Āṭō      Auto-rickshaw
ರೈಲು      Railu     Train            ಟ್ಯಾಕ್ಸಿ  Ṭyāksi   Taxi
ವಿಮಾನ     Vimāna    Airplane         ಸೈಕಲ್    Saikal   Bicycle

To actually use one: "ಆಟೋ ಬೇಕು" (āṭō bēku — "I want/need an auto"), reusing Week 9's ಬೇಕು directly. Combine it with a destination and "ellide" or a direction phrase, and you can flag down transport and get where you're going with a handful of words.

3. Emergency Phrases & Asking for Help

These are worth memorizing solidly, even before you feel fully ready — the whole point is having them available instantly, without needing to think.

ಸಹಾಯ ಮಾಡಿ            Sahāya māḍi            Please help (me)
ನನಗೆ ಕನ್ನಡ ಬರುದಿಲ್ಲ   Nanage Kannaḍa barudilla  I don't know/speak Kannada
ಇಂಗ್ಲಿಷ್ ಬರುತ್ತಾ?      Iṅgliṣ baruttā?         Do you know/speak English?
ಪೊಲೀಸ್ ಕರೀರಿ          Polīs karīri           Call the police
ಆಸ್ಪತ್ರೆ ಎಲ್ಲಿದೆ?       Āspatre ellide?        Where is the hospital?

Notice "ನನಗೆ ಕನ್ನಡ ಬರುದಿಲ್ಲ" (I don't know Kannada) is genuinely useful precisely because it's often what buys you patience and a switch to simpler language or English from whoever you're speaking to — a small honest admission that smooths the rest of the conversation.

4. Hands-on Exercise

5. Practice Quiz

Five questions covering directions, transport and asking for help. Attempt each before expanding the answer.