Expressing a position in Japanese

Description

In Japanese positions are expressed by putting position-noun behind the noun whose position is being described. Both nouns are connected using the particle の (no). In addition the Particles に (ni) or で (de) used behing the position-noun indicated that it is about a location.

The general structure of the description of a position is as follows:

[Noun] + の (no) + [position noun] + に (ni) or で (de)

Example

This example gives you an idea on how a sentence explaining a position looks like.

Position-nouns

Kanji	Furigana	Romaji	Translation
上	うえ	ue	above, on, over
下	した	shita	under, below
前	まえ	mae	in front of
後ろ	うしろ	ushiro	behind
右	みぎ	migi	right hand of
左	ひだり	hidari	left hand of
先	さき	saki	before
横	よこ	yoko	next to
隣り	となり	tonari	next to
側	そば	soba	next to
中	なか	naka	inside
辺	へん	hen	around here
角	かど	kado	at the corner of
隅	すみ	sumi	in the corner of
奥	おく	oku	inside the building
外	そと	soto	outside
内	うち	uchi
間	あいだ	aida	in between
近く	ちかく	chikaku	close to, near to

Comments

jacinta amado says:

April 5, 2011 at 08:04

Thank you, thank you for these grammar lessons.
Could you please leave examples to help illustrate your explanations? Thank you again and have a wonderfull day!

Nicolas says:

April 5, 2011 at 08:41

Thanks for the comment. This is a good idea and I will add a few examples – probably this weekend.

Millie says:

April 17, 2011 at 23:41

Thanks for these! I only knew kore, sore and are before.