How to Say 'Left' in Spanish: Visual Guide to Directions, Verbs, and Everyday Slang
By James H. Sterling
Steering a vehicle or guiding a pedestrian through an unfamiliar city requires action verbs. While a textbook might teach a single universal phrase, street-level Spanish varies significantly across the Atlantic and between borders. Navigating urban transit requires matching the verb to local speech patterns.
In Spain and parts of the Southern Cone, the default verb is girar. A navigator instructs: girar a la izquierda. Step inside a rideshare vehicle in Mexico, Colombia, Peru, or across Central America, and that phrasing sounds uncharacteristically formal. In Mexico City or Bogotá, drivers almost universally say doblar a la izquierda or dar vuelta a la izquierda. In parts of the Caribbean, you will encounter coger a la izquierda, though learners should exercise extreme caution with the verb coger, as it carries an explicit sexual vulgarity throughout Mexico and Argentina.
Mastering these directional commands means understanding imperative verb conjugations:
Formal (Usted) commands for taxis, strangers, or elders:
Gire a la izquierda en el semáforo. (Turn left at the traffic light, Spain/formal).
Doble a la izquierda después del puente. (Turn left after the bridge, Latin America/formal).
Dé vuelta a la izquierda en la siguiente esquina. (Make a left turn at the next corner, Mexico).
Informal (Tú) commands for friends and casual navigation:
Gira a la izquierda aquí. (Turn left here.)
Dobla a la izquierda en la farmacia. (Turn left at the pharmacy.)
James Sterling reports on renewable energy developments, climate policy, ecological conservation, and green tech innovations around the globe.
