Вы искали там?
“Did you look for it there?”
The help desk assistant asks, Вы искали там? The English translation for this sentence is, “Did you look for it there?” Kevin replies, Да, я вернулся туда, or in English, “Yes, I went back there.” As you can see, both там and туда translate into English as “there.” Why do we use two different words in Russian then?
For Example:
- Мы едем в Москву. Мы едем туда.
“We are going to Moscow. We are going there.” - Мы живём в Москве. Мы живём там.
“We live in Moscow. We live there.”
We use туда to talk about the direction of movement (“to go there,” “to fly there,” etc.). We usually use it with verbs of movement such as ходить, идти, ездить, and ехать, among others.
We use там to talk about where something is situated, its position. We can use it with verbs such as жить, and работать, among others.
In a nutshell:
- Туда– “there,” meaning “to a place”
- Там– “there,” meaning “in a place”
Sample sentences
| Аня там не работает. | “Anya doesn’t work there.” |
| Мы не ходим туда. | “We don’t go there.” |
| Вы часто ездите туда? | “Do you go there often?” (by car, etc.) |
| Ты живёшь там? | “Do you live there?” |
| Не ходи туда. | “Don’t go there.” |
| Там много людей. | “There are many people there.” |