Direction Words in Chinese

Posted on by tiffany

Before we look up the direction words in Chinese, let me give you a suggestion. Do not ask any Taiwanese the direction of east, west, north, or south. Seriously we never use it. Even on our map, the north is not on the north sometimes. In Taiwan, we only use right, left, go straight, and turn back to tell the directions. Maybe because of this fact, lots of Taiwanese have no direction sense. Includes me kk

We have a Chinese word to describe people who have no direction sense. That is 路痴 lùchī. The literal translation is road idiom.

Basic Direction Words in Chinese

SimplifyChinaTraditionalTaiwanEnglishKoreanJapanese
东dōng東dōngEast동東
南nán南nánSouth남南
西xī西xīWest서西
北běi北běiNorth북北
(西)方(xī)fāng(西)方(xī)fāngWestern서방(西)の方
(西)边(xī)biān(西)邊(xī)biānWest side서쪽(西)側
(西)部(xī)bù(西)部(xī)bùWest part서부(西)部
东北dōngběi東北dōngběiNortheast동북東北
西南xīnán西南xīnánSouthwest서남西南
西北xīběi西北xīběiNorthwest서북西北

Examples

台湾Táiwān的de北部běibù是shì台北táiběi
The northern part of Taiwan is Taipei.

台湾Táiwān的de北边běibiān有yǒu日本rìběn
Japan is in the north of Taiwan.

Other Directions Words in Chinese

SimplifyChinaTraditionalTaiwanEnglishKoreanJapanese
以后yǐhòu以後yǐhòuAfter이후以後
以前yǐqián以前yǐqiánBefore이전以前
以上yǐshàng以上yǐshàngAbove이상以上
以下yǐxià以下yǐxiàBelow이하以下
以内yǐnèi以内yǐnèiWithin이내以内
以外yǐwài以外yǐwàiExcept이외以外

Examples

我wǒ从cóng2019 年nián以后yǐhòu都dōu没méi出国chūguó
I have not been abroad since 2019.

我wǒ的de预算yùsuàn是shì200 块kuài以内yǐnèi
My budget is within 200 bucks.

Do you like it? 🙂

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