218 CHAPTER 4. PARTICLES
- Right
Having covered above and below, the two orientation directions left and
right. First up, right:
”The post office is to the right of the station.”- Left
And then, of course, left:
”The post office is to the left of the station.”- Before, in front of, prior
When referring to something before, or preceding, something else, the con-
ceptual noun is used. This can be used for both time and space:
”(I) waited in front of the station.”This example, similar to the one given in this section’s paĴern ex-
planation, states something being in front of some location. If instead we
want to indicate something as happening or being the case before some
verb activity, then follows the :
”(I) cleaned up before going out on errands.”In this sentence, the event ”going out [on errands]”, , indi-
cates a particular time, even if it’s not sharply defined like clock times.
- Front, facing
There’s one more ”front” that has a special word for it in Japanese: the
facing side of something. For instance, the title side of a book’s cover is the
, the storefront side of a store is the , and the front side of a T-shirt is
the.