Location Words in Japanese

Location words are used when one expresses the location of someone or something using an object or person as a reference.

The followings are some of the positional words that we are going to learn:

	あいだ	between (A and B)		なか	inside
	うえ	on, over, top		よこ	side
	した	under, below		ひだり	left (of TV)
	まえ	front		みぎ	right (of TV)
	うしろ	behind		となり	next (to school)

Important Notes

• As a general rule, the reference must be about equal or bigger in size than the object/person/animal of which it is used to describe the location. 
   
• まえ is often used to describe the position of "across the street".
   
• みぎ　=> most commonly it is your right-hand side, facing to the front of the reference
  ひだり =>most commonly it is your right-hand side, facing to the front of the reference
   
• となり
  • Both the reference and the object (person/animal) that exists in the location must be the same kind.  If they are different kinds, then use よこ.  However, the reference must be bigger than the object (person/animal) that exists when using よこ.
    
    X 　たけしさんの　となりに　いぬが　います。("Person" and "dog" are not the same kind.)
    
    〇　たけしさんの　よこに　いぬが　います。
     
  • You cannot use となり when the sizes of the reference and the object (person/animal) that exists are extremely different.  If that is the case, use よこ instead.  However, the reference must be bigger than the object (person/animal) that exists.
     

    X　きょうかいの　となりに　がっこうが　あります。 　　(The sizes of the two are different too much.) X　がっこうの　となりに　きょうかいが　あります。   　(The reference, がっこう, is much smaller than きょうかい.) 〇　きょうかいの　よこに　がっこうが　あります。

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