derecho and derecha
I am using Rosetta Stone. The first 3 questions refer to a taxi turning right or left or going straight. They use izquierda, derecha, and sigue derecho. The last three questions refer to one person giving directions to another. Here they use izquierdo, derecho, and siga derecho.
Would I be right in assuming that "izquierda," "derecha," and "sigue derecho" are used when referring to the direction an object is taking and " izquierdo," "derecho," and "siga derecho" are used when a person is giving directions to another person?
4 Answers
Mi vecino mexicano me dijo que direcha significa turn to the right y izquierda signifca turn to the left y sigue derecho signifca continue straight ahead. So, if you're talking about directions, that's what he told me and when I give him a ride somewhere, he always uses these terms when giving me directions on how to get someplace. I'm pretty much of a novice, so perhaps others can shed additonal light on it.
I'm afraid these words' usages are not "classified" as you assumed.
Without knowing the specific sentences you saw in Rosetta Stone, I can only provide some general info based on my understanding:
" Izquierda" and "derecha" when used as nouns: They are often used in the phrase "a la izquierda", "a la derecha" to mean turn to the left or turn to the right.
"Derecho" when used as an adverb, in the context of direction, it means "straight", such as in phrase "siga derecho." However, "derecho" has many other meanings and usages, the best is to look it up in the dictionary.
"izquierdo" and "derecho" are adjectives, and remember when using adjectives to modify nouns, they have to agree in gender and number with the nouns they modify. For instance, "mano izquierda" - left hand. "lado izquierdo" - left side.
The problem maybe, when you see "izquierdo/izquierda" "derecho/derecha" in a sentence, it is hard to tell at first whether it is used as its noun form, adjective form, or even adverb form.
Hope this helps.
Take a look here, where I said:
Only use "izquierdo" if it's an adjective, e.g,. el zapato izquierdo. Otherwise, it's always "izquierda" as in "turn to the left, on the left, etc."
As Gringo says, some countries use "derecha" as both "go straight down this street" and "take a right at the end of the block." Lucky for us in Guatemala, they use "recto" for straight ahead."
The word "derecho" means having the right to do something, e.g., el derecho al voto.
Dale a la isquierda. Dale a la derecha. Sigue derecho.
Dale al lado derecho. Dale al lado izquierdo.
http://spanish.about.com/od/spanishvocabulary/a/derecho.htm
