Prepositions

Prepositions are words that describe

the location of something in space or
time relative to something else.

Examples:
My house is next to the school.
Jacob is hiding in the box.
Daruma is on top of the desk.

(illustrated by cats)
Prepositions
The object that were actually talking about
is called the subject, and the object were
using as a landmark to describe its location is
called the base.

My house is next to the school.
Jacob is hiding in the box.
Daruma is on top of the desk.

(illustrated by cats)
Prepositions
In the following examples,
the white cat is consistently the subject,
and the black cat is the base.

White Cat is next to Black Cat.

In Japanese, the base comes before the
preposition:

White Cat Black Cat next to
(illustrated by cats)
Prepositions
See how they switch places?
Next, pay attention to the particles.
Each one tags the word that comes before it.

White Cat is next to Black Cat.




White Cat Black Cat next to
(illustrated by cats)
Prepositions
Finally, note the verb. Were using
which means to be, to exist for living
things. (For nonliving things, use .)

White Cat is next to Black Cat.




White Cat Black Cat next to
(illustrated by cats)
exists
Prepositions
Now all we need to know is how to say some
prepositions in Japanese.


White Cat Black Cat next to
(illustrated by cats)
like
this
one

White Cat Black Cat

tonari
next to, beside

White Cat Black Cat

soba
close to, nearby

White Cat Black Cat

mae
in front of, before

White Cat Black Cat

ushiro
in back of, behind

ue
above, on top of
White Cat Black Cat


shita
White Cat Black Cat

under, below, beneath

White Cat Black Cat

naka
inside

White Cat Black Cat

soto
outside
Subject base preposition

(or, if subject is not a living thing,
The Sentence Structure To Remember Is:
(the end)