Japanese for Where Things Are

In another post we had a video on object placement. Today we are going to go beyond an objects relative position to the speaker and discuss relative position to other things or places. This is, after all, more well used, some examples might be:

The building to the right of the post office.
On top of the table.
Under your shoe.

So lets look at the words that we are going to use and their translations.

みぎ	to the right of
ひだり	to the left of
まえ	in front of
うしろ	behind
なか	inside
うえ	on/above
した	under/beneath
そば	near
となり	next to

The usage is actually fairly simple. Pretty much plug and chug, for those math people. X should be a noun Y should be the object and the location.

X は Y　の (location) です

Here it is with the words above.

Soooo what does that mean? Well here is an image to describe the translation

Basically when you say something like.

じてんしゃはとしょかんのなかです

You are saying the bike is in the library. Here are some more.

ぎんこうはとしょかんのとなりです。 – The bank is next to the library.
かさはテービルのしたです。 – The umbrella is under the table.
レストランはデパートとびゅおういんのあいだです – The restaurant is between the department store and the hospital.

Hopefully this will give you a start with describing where things are.

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Tagged as: Location