Gde and kuda

English asks where? for two different questions. Where are you? is about a place. Where are you going? is about a direction. Russian gives each its own word, and once you see the split you will find it everywhere.

где asks where something is. куда́ asks where something is going. Где ты? is where are you. Куда́ ты? is where are you off to, and a Russian will hear the difference in a single syllable.

The pairs

The adverbs follow the same line, in neat pairs:

So you are до́ма when you are sitting in the kitchen, but you go домо́й. You are зде́сь, but you come сюда́. English lost this distinction a few centuries ago with hither and thither; Russian kept it, and it is not optional.

отсю́да is the third direction, from here, and наза́д is back or backwards. пря́мо is straight on, which is what anyone giving you directions will say first.

The prepositions do it too

в and на both mean in or on, and both can answer either question. What changes is the case of the noun after them. With где, the noun takes the prepositional case: в до́ме, in the house. With куда́, it takes the accusative: в дом, into the house. The preposition stays put and the ending carries the movement.

из and от mean from: из out of an enclosed place, от away from a person or a point. к is towards, and it is the one you use for going to see someone. у is at someone's place: у ма́мы is at Mum's, and it is also how Russian says have, as in у меня́ есть, by me there is.

Two nouns to hang it on

дом is house or home, and ме́сто is place, seat or spot. вме́сте, together, is literally in one place, which is a neat thing to notice the first time you see the two words on the same page.