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Study in the app →Mandarin Chinese · HSK 3.0 Band 2 · Chapter 7
你往左走 Go to the left
Two direction prepositions side-by-side: 往 (toward a place + verb of motion) and 向 (toward / facing — can take a person object). Picks up the locative-suffix set (前面, 后面, 左边, 右边, 上面, 下面, 中间) and the basic 路 / 方向 vocabulary.
Dialogue
你往左走 — Go to the left
- 大卫 高文, 这个方向对吗? Gao Wen, is this the right direction?
- 高文 不对. 你往左走. Not right. Go to the left.
- 大卫 往左? 然后呢? Left? And then?
- 高文 往前面走, 看左边. 那家又新又干净, 就在左边. Walk forward, then look on the left. That place is new and clean — right there on the left.
- 大卫 好, 出发! Great, off I go!
Dialogue
向左看, 向右看 — Look left, look right
- 大卫 高文, 我到了路中间. 现在怎么走? Gao Wen, I'm in the middle of the road. Which way now?
- 高文 向左看, 向右看, 都是路. Look left, look right — both are roads.
- 大卫 哪一条路? Which road?
- 高文 右边的路近一些. 你往右走. The road on the right is closer. Go right.
- 大卫 好. 我往右走. OK. I'll go right.
Dialogue
在前面还是在后面? — Is it in front or behind?
- 大卫 高文, 我到了. 那家在哪儿? Gao Wen, I'm here. Where's the place?
- 高文 在你的前面. 上面有大字. Right in front of you. There's a big sign on top.
- 大卫 好, 我看. 下面是什么? OK, I'll look. What's below?
- 高文 下面是路. 后面是公园. Below is the road. Behind is a park.
- 大卫 好, 谢谢你! Great, thanks!
Vocabulary
| 汉字 | Pinyin | POS | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 往 | wǎng | prep. | toward (direction) — 往 + place + V (chapter grammar anchor) |
| 向 | xiàng | prep. | toward / facing — 向 + place / person + V (chapter grammar anchor; pair with 往) |
| 路 | lù | n. | road; path; way |
| 方向 | fāngxiàng | n. | direction |
| 中间 | zhōngjiān | n. | middle; between |
| 前面 | qiánmiàn | n. | in front (of); ahead |
| 后面 | hòumiàn | n. | behind; at the back |
| 左边 | zuǒbiān | n. | left side; on the left |
| 右边 | yòubiān | n. | right side; on the right |
| 上面 | shàngmiàn | n. | on top; above |
| 下面 | xiàmiàn | n. | below; underneath |
New characters
| 汉字 | Pinyin | POS | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 往 | wǎng | toward (preposition); past, formerly | |
| 向 | xiàng | toward / facing (preposition); direction 方向 fāngxiàng — direction | |
| 然 | rán | thus; so (in 自然 / 当然) 自然 zìrán — nature; natural然后 ránhòu — after that当然 dāngrán — of course | |
| 又 | yòu | again; also; both (chapter anchor in 又…又…) | |
| 园 | yuán | garden / park (Bk2 ch10) 公园 gōngyuán — park |
Hanzi — writing & recognition
wǎng toward (preposition); past, formerly Writing
Phono-semantic compound: 彳 (small-step radical, motion semantics) + 主 (phonetic). Original sense: "to go forward". Modern uses: (1) the direction preposition introduced this chapter (往 + place + V), (2) the time-direction "in the past / formerly" (以往 = "in the past", 往年 = "previous years"). The 彳 radical is closely related to the 行 (walk) radical — both motion-themed.
xiàng toward / facing (preposition); direction Writing
Originally pictographic — depicting a window facing outward. Core sense: "to face / orient toward". Modern uses: the direction preposition (this chapter), and the noun "direction" (方向). Key contrast with 往: 向 can face a person (向我说 = "say to me"), 往 cannot — 往 is for paths and places, 向 for orientation including people.
lù road; path; way Writing
Phono-semantic compound: 足 (foot) radical + 各 (phonetic). Original sense: "where feet have walked / the path". Modern senses: physical roads, but also figurative "way / method" (思路 = "train of thought", 找路 = "find a way"). The 足 radical also appears in 跟 (follow), 跑 (run), 跳 (jump) — body-in-motion characters.
zhōng middle; center (Level 1 revisit; combined with 间 here) Writing
中 is a Level 1 character that you already know from 中文 / 中国 / 中午. This chapter promotes it to writing-focus to anchor 中间 ("middle / between"). Visually: 中 is a pictograph of an arrow piercing a target — "the center / the middle". Reappears constantly across the course.
jiān gap; between; (in 中间, 时间, 房间) Recognition
qián front; before (in 前面) Recognition
miàn face; surface (in 前面 / 后面 / 上面 / 下面 — locative suffix) Recognition
hòu behind; after (in 后面) Recognition
zuǒ left (in 左边; from etymology: hand-on-the-left) Recognition
yòu right (in 右边; from etymology: hand-on-the-right) Recognition
Grammar
往 + 处所 + V — "toward (a place)" 往 + place + V — "go toward (a place) and verb"
"往"是介词, 表示动作的方向。规则: 往 + 处所(place) + V。"处所"可以是方向词(左 / 右 / 前 / 后), 也可以是地名(北京 / 学校), 也可以是位置词(里 / 外面)。"往"必须有一个动词跟着, 不能单独出现: "往北京"不完整, "往北京走"才对。"往"主要用于"走 / 去 / 跑 / 飞"等动作动词.
往 is a preposition expressing direction of motion. The rigid pattern: 往 + place + V. The "place" slot can be a direction word (左 / 右 / 前 / 后), a placename (北京 / 学校), or a locative (里 / 外面). 往 ALWAYS takes a verb afterward — it never stands alone. 往北京 is incomplete; 往北京走 ("go toward Beijing") is the full pattern. Use 往 with motion verbs: 走, 去, 跑, 飞.
- 你往左走. Nǐ wǎng zuǒ zǒu. Go to the left.
- 往前面走, 看左边. Wǎng qiánmiàn zǒu, kàn zuǒbiān. Walk forward, look on the left.
- 我们往后面去. Wǒmen wǎng hòumiàn qù. Let's head to the back.
Grammar
向 + 处所 / 人 + V — "toward / facing" 向 + place / person + V — "toward / facing"
"向"也是表示方向的介词, 跟"往"很像, 但有重要区别: (1) "向"可以接"人"——向我看 / 向她说; "往"不能(往我走 是错的)。(2) "往"主要用于"走 / 去 / 跑"等真的移动; "向"还可以用于"看 / 学 / 走 / 说"等抽象方向(向他学习 = "learn from him")。规则: 向 + 处所/人 + V。本课主要用空间方向(向左 / 向前面), 抽象方向(向他学习等)在 Bk2 后面继续学.
向 is also a direction preposition, similar to 往 but with key differences: (1) 向 can take a PERSON as its object: 向我看 ("look toward me / face me"), 向她说 ("speak to her"). 往 cannot — 往我走 is ungrammatical. (2) 往 is mainly for actual physical motion (走 / 去 / 跑). 向 covers both physical motion AND abstract direction: 向他学习 = "learn from him" (figurative — "orient your study toward him"). Pattern: 向 + place / person + V. This chapter uses 向 for spatial direction; abstract uses (向…学习, etc.) come later in Bk2.
- 向左看, 向右看, 都是路. Xiàng zuǒ kàn, xiàng yòu kàn, dōu shì lù. Look left, look right — both are roads.
- 你向前面走. Nǐ xiàng qiánmiàn zǒu. Walk forward.
- 高文向大卫说: "走这条路." Gāo Wén xiàng Dàwèi shuō: "Zǒu zhè tiáo lù." Gao Wen says to David: "Take this road."
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