More about spatial landmarks

I’d like to offer you this little lesson that aims to dig deeper into things we’ve already seen throughout this second season.

In the aforementioned courses that I invite you to review, we have studied :
– Prepositions used to indicate the position of objects or people in space,
– Adverbs and adverbial particles.

Okay, this is all great but now I would like to show you how you can combine spatial prepositions and a particular adverb to be more precise in your indication.

To start, I give you below some of the prepositions that we saw earlier :

北 . きた . the North
南 . みなみ . the South
東 . ひがし . the East
西 . にし . the West
右 . みぎ . the right
左 . ひだり . the left
上 . うえ . the topside
下 . した . the underside
前 . まえ . the front
後ろ . うしろ . the back

Now that I have rekindled some memories, let me present you some new words :

右上 . みぎうえ . top right
左上 . ひだりうえ . top left
右下 . みぎした . bottom right
左下 . ひだりした . bottom left

I will now introduce you to some new words by adding a prefix to the adverb 直ぐ . すぐ. The hiragana version is the most frequently used :

直ぐ右 / すぐ右 すぐみぎ . immediately right, just right
直ぐ左 / すぐ左 すぐひだり . immediately left, just left
直ぐ上 / すぐ上 すぐジョウ . just above
直ぐ下 / すぐ下 すぐした . just below
直ぐ後ろ / すぐ後ろ すぐうしろ . just behind

Note : to say « just ahead », we will say :

目の前 . めのまえ . just in front of (literally « under the eyes, in front of the eyes »)

We can also use the adverb 直ぐ . すぐ with cardinal points :

直ぐ北 / すぐ北 すぐきた . just north
直ぐ南 / すぐ南 すぐみなみ . just south
直ぐ東 / すぐ東 すぐひがし . just east
直ぐ西 / すぐ西 すぐにし . just west
直ぐ(の)北東 / すぐ(の)北東 すぐホクトウ . just northeast
直ぐ(の)北西 / すぐ(の)北西 すぐホクセイ . just northwest
直ぐ(の)南東 / すぐ(の)南東 すぐナントウ . just southeast
直ぐ(の)南西 / すぐ(の)南西 すぐナンセイ . just southwest

Note : for the last four, it is better to use the particle の to separate 直ぐ . すぐ in purely Japanese pronunciation and cardinal points in Sino-Japanese pronunciation.

With the kanji 真 . ま, we can still add an additional nuance :

真北 . まきた . due north / full north
真南 . まみなみ . due south / full south
真東 . まひがし . due east / full east
真西 . まにし . due west / full west

Note : the kanji 真 . ま can be used with many other words. With the names of the colors and the seasons. Don’t hesitate to search the dictionary.

With two more kanji we can create even more words to indicate the position in more detail :

隅 . すみ . the corner, the angle

角 . かど, かく / つの . the wedge, the angle, the turn / the horn, the antlers (of an animal), the antenna

Note: the pronunciation つの is used to denote an animal’s horn, antlers or an antenna. Hope this is clear to you.

Now take a good look at the new words I create below :

上隅 . うえすみ . the corner up, the corner at the top
下隅 . したすみ . the corner down, the corner at the bottom
右上隅 . みぎうわすみ . the top right corner, the upper right corner (pay attention to the pronunciation of the kanji 上)
左上隅 . ひだりうえすみ . the top left corner, the upper left corner
右下隅 . みぎしたすみ . the top right corner, the upper right corner
左下隅 . ひだりしたすみ . the bottom left corner, the lower left corner

Note: there is a small difference between 隅 and 角. The kanji 隅 is the inside part of a corner and 角 the outside part. I gave you the examples with the kanji 隅 because the most frequently used.

I give you yet another kanji :

端 . は / タン . the edge, the end

Now take a good look at the new words I create below :

右端 . みぎはし / ウタン . the right end, the right edge, the far right, the rightmost
左端 . ひだりはし / サタン . the left end, the left edge, the far left, the leftmost
上端 . うわば / ジョウタン . the high part, the upper part
下端 . したば / カタン . the bottom part, the lower part

We can do the same with the cardinal points :

北端 . きたはし / ホクタン . the northern end, the northernmost
南端 . みなみはし / ナンタン . the southern end, the southernmost
西端 . にしはし / セイタン . the western end, the westernmost
東端 . ひがしはし / トウタン . the eastern end, the easternmost
北西端 . きたにしはし / ホクセイタン . the northwestern end, the most northwestern
北東端 . きたひがしはし / ホクトウタン . the northeastern end, the most northeastern
南西端 . みなみにしはし / ナンセイタン . the southwestern end, the most southwestern
南東端 . みなみひがしはし / ナントウタン . the southeastern end, the most southeastern

We can accentuate the end idea by adding the kanji 最 :

最北端 . サイホクタン . the northern end, the northernmost
最南端 . サイナンタン . the southern end, the southernmost
最西端 . サイセイタン . the western end, the westernmost
最東端 . サイトウタン . the eastern end, the easternmost
最北西端 . サイホクセイタン . the northwestern end, the most northwestern
最北東端 . サイホクトウタン . the northeastern end, the most northeastern
最南西端 . サイナンセイタン . the southwestern end, the most southwestern
最南東端 . サイナントウタン . the southeastern end, the most southeastern

Finally, I give you two more words :

途中 . トチュウ . on the way, during, in the middle of
中央 . チュウオウ . the center, the middle

Note : do not confuse 内 . うち and 中 . なか which designates « the middle » in the sense of « the interior » and 中央 . チュウオウ which means « the middle » in the sense of « the center », something or someone who is in the center.

This is the end of this course. I can now give you your exercises, theme and version. Now you know how it goes.

You probably already know it, but I’m telling you anyway. I cannot use all the words seen in a lesson in the exercises. You must therefore take the initiative to create sentences on your own on a daily basis using the vocabulary that I am giving you to learn. Using the words in sentences will always be more effective than just learning them as a list. Practice, always practice.

Much later, you will have a vocabulary class entitled « 航海の単語 – Navigation » where we will further expand the lexicon of spatial references. Locating objects, animals, people or even islands, archipelagos, continents and many others things will no longer be a secret for you.

Thank you for reading this course and let’s continue our journey in this beautiful language that is Japanese.