Modern Mandarin Chinese Grammar

Location

47.1

房子(的)左边/房子(的)左邊

fángzi (de) zuǒbiān

to the left of the house

房子(的)右边/房子(的)右邊

fángzi (de) yòubiān

to the right of the house

房子(的)对面/房子(的)對面

fángzi (de) duìmiàn

across from the house

房子(的)中间/房子(的)中間

fángzi (de) zhōngjiān

between the houses

房子的旁边/房子的旁邊

fángzi (de) pángbiān

next to the house

The location base forms 里/裏 lǐ ‘inside,’ 外 wài ‘outside,’ 上 shàng ‘above,’ and 下 xià ‘below’

can directly follow the reference point. When they occur this way, 的 de does not occur.

reference point + location base form

房子(的)里头/房子(的)裏頭 or 房子里/房子裏

fángzi (de) lǐtou fángzi lǐ

inside the house inside the house

房子(的)外头/房子(的)外頭 or 房子外

fángzi (de) wàitou fángzi wài

outside the house outside the house

房子(的)上头/房子(的)上頭 or 房子上

fángzi (de) shàngtou fángzi shàng

on top of the house on top of the house

房子(的)下头/房子(的)下頭 or 房子下

fángzi (de) xiàtou fángzi xià

below the house below the house

47.1.2.2 Indicating location with compass direction words
To indicate that something is ‘east of,’ ‘west of,’ ‘north of,’ or ‘south of ’ a reference point, use the
following structure. Keep in mind that compass direction words can be used with the 面 miàn
or 边/邊 biān suffix.
reference point 的 de compass direction word

房子的北面

fángzi de běimiàn

north of the house

房子的西面 房子的东面

fángzi de xīmiàn 房子的東面

west of the house fángzi de dōngmiàn

east of the house

房子的南面

fángzi de nánmiàn

south of the house