This document provides grammar notes on directional words and describing locations in Japanese. It discusses using words like "tonari (next to)," "mukai (across)," "shita (under)," and "ushiro (behind)" to describe where objects are located relative to each other. Two common patterns are presented using verbs like "arimasu" or "imasu" - for example, "Building 1 wa Building 2 no tonari desu/ni arimasu." The document also covers using "aida (between)" to describe locations between two places, and "tooi (far)" and "chikai (close)" with "kara/ni" to express distances from places.

1. 文法 LESSON 6 GRAMMAR NOTES
G1. DIRECTIONAL WORDS
There are a few ways to describe where things are located.
You’ve already learned how to describe the location of animate & inanimate objects
using あります and います in the previous lesson.
You can also use directional words to describe the location of people, buildings, or
other objects.
漢字 ひらがな romaji English
隣 となり tonari Next to
向かい むかい mukai Across
下 した shita Under
後ろ うしろ ushiro Behind
There are a couple ways to describe the location of objects. They both can be translated
exactly the same.
For example:
きっさてん
は
ちかてつ
の
となり
です。
OR
きっさてん
は
ちかてつ
の
となり
に
あります。
The coffee shop is next to the subway.

2. In both of these sentences, you are describing the location (next to) of building 1 (きっさ
てん) in relation to building 2 (ちかてつ).
Whether you choose to end your sentence with です or に
あります is up to you. Both
are correct.
The general patterns are:
Building 1 は Building 2 の directional word です。
OR
Building 1 は Building 2 の directional word に
あります。
You can also use these patterns to describe the location of living things.
Note that あります is changed to います when talking about the location of the cat, a
living thing.
ねこ
は
テーブル
の
した
です。
OR
ねこ
は
テーブル
の
した
に
います。
The cat is under the table.

3. G2. DESCRIBING “BETWEEN”
あいだ
To describe something that is “in between” two places, you need to also reference the
two places that it is between in the sentence.
For example:
えいがかん
は
スーパー
と
デパート
の
あいだ
です。
OR
えいがかん
は
スーパー
と
デパート
の
あいだ
に
あります。
The movie theater is between the supermarket and the department store.
In both of these sentences, you are describing the location (between) of building 1 (えい
がかん) in relation to building 2 (スーパー) AND building 3 (デパート).
The general patterns are:
Building 1 は Building 2 と Building 3 の あいだ
です。
OR
Building 1 は Building 2 と Buliding 3 の あいだ
に
あります。
See page 3 for more grammar
☟

4. G3. FAR FROM, CLOSE TO 〜から
とおい、〜に
ちかい
Now let’s practice how to describe “far from” and “close to.”
Remember – から means “from” and in this case can be interchanged with に but with a
different nuance. See the examples below.
遠い とおい tooi Far
近い ちかい chikai Close
ゆうびんきょく
は
うち
に
とおい
です。
The post office is far to* my house.
*While this is grammatically correct in Japanese, it sounds somewhat awkward in English.
It would be better to say:
ゆうびんきょく
は
うち
から
とおい
です。
The post office is far from my house.
きっさてん
は
えいがかん
に
ちかい
です。
The coffee shop is close to the movie theater.
きっさてん
は
えいがかん
から
ちかい
です。
The coffee shop is close from the movie theater.