Common Places in Kannada Transliteration: Ask Where
For common places, use the Roman-letter Kannada examples for the market, school, railway station, bus station, airport, and hotel. Keep them separate from standalone question words such as “What” and “When”: those words identify a question type but do not themselves ask where a destination is.
Start with these expressions
| English | Transliteration | Native script |
|---|---|---|
| Market location? | maarukatte ellide? | ಮಾರುಕಟ್ಟೆ ಎಲ್ಲಿದೆ? |
| School location? | shaale ellide? | ಶಾಲೆ ಎಲ್ಲಿದೆ? |
| Excuse me, where is the railway station? | kshamisi railu nildaana ellide | ಕ್ಷಮಿಸಿ ರೈಲು ನಿಲ್ದಾಣ ಎಲ್ಲಿದೆ |
| Excuse me, where is the bus station? | kshamisi bas nildaana ellide | ಕ್ಷಮಿಸಿ ಬಸ್ ನಿಲ್ದಾಣ ಎಲ್ಲಿದೆ |
| Excuse me, where is the airport? | kshamisi vimaana nildaana ellide | ಕ್ಷಮಿಸಿ ವಿಮಾನ ನಿಲ್ದಾಣ ಎಲ್ಲಿದೆ |
| Excuse me, where is the hotel? | kshamisi hotel ellide | ಕ್ಷಮಿಸಿ ಹೋಟೆಲ್ ಎಲ್ಲಿದೆ |
| What | enu | ಏನು |
| When | yaavaga | ಯಾವಾಗ |
Choose a place question, not a standalone question word
For directions, choose the example that names the destination you need: the set covers a market, school, railway station, bus station, airport, and hotel. The English labels for the market and school entries are shorthand fragments, so read them as location prompts rather than polished English translations.
The practical distinction is between a destination prompt and an individual question word. The entry glossed as “What” is a word that can appear in questions, but it is not, by itself, a request for directions; the dictionary passage documents that meaning and shows it in wider question contexts [1]. The entry glossed as “When” is likewise not a place question.
The school example names a school as the destination. The dictionary entry supports that lexical meaning, while not proving the conversational naturalness of the entire location question [2]. For today’s use, match the destination first, then select its corresponding Roman-letter example. Do not choose the standalone “What” or “When” entries when you need someone to identify a place.
[1] Source: dsal.uchicago.edu.
[2] Source: dsal.uchicago.edu.
Try it
You are travelling and need to ask where the bus station is. Which example should you choose?
Choose your answer before reading on.
Check your answer:
Use expression 4 in the table above.
Choose the example whose English meaning asks about the bus station and includes the polite opener. It matches the destination-finding task directly; the standalone entries glossed as “What” and “When” cannot identify a transport location.
Cover the English meanings and test yourself with the market, school, railway station, airport, and hotel examples. For each situation, choose the destination example before looking at the Roman-letter form.
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