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Mandarin Chinese · HSK 3.0 Band 2 · Chapter 7

你往左走 Go to the left

Nǐ wǎng zuǒ zǒu

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.

你往左走 — Go to the left

  1. 大卫 gāowén, zhègefāngxiàngduìma? Gao Wen, is this the right direction?
  2. 高文 duì. wǎngzuǒzǒu. Not right. Go to the left.
  3. 大卫 wǎngzuǒ? ránhòune? Left? And then?
  4. 高文 wǎngqiánmiànzǒu, kànzuǒbiān. jiāyòuxīnyòugānjìng, jiùzàizuǒbiān. Walk forward, then look on the left. That place is new and clean — right there on the left.
  5. 大卫 hǎo, chū! Great, off I go!

向左看, 向右看 — Look left, look right

  1. 大卫 gāowén, dàolezhōngjiān. xiànzàizěnmezǒu? Gao Wen, I'm in the middle of the road. Which way now?
  2. 高文 xiàngzuǒkàn, xiàngyòukàn, dōushì. Look left, look right — both are roads.
  3. 大卫 tiáo? Which road?
  4. 高文 yòubiāndejìnxiē. wǎngyòuzǒu. The road on the right is closer. Go right.
  5. 大卫 hǎo. wǎngyòuzǒu. OK. I'll go right.

在前面还是在后面? — Is it in front or behind?

  1. 大卫 gāowén, dàole. jiāzàiér? Gao Wen, I'm here. Where's the place?
  2. 高文 zàideqiánmiàn. shàngmiànyǒu. Right in front of you. There's a big sign on top.
  3. 大卫 hǎo, kàn. xiàmiànshìshénme? OK, I'll look. What's below?
  4. 高文 xiàmiànshì. hòumiànshìgōngyuán. Below is the road. Behind is a park.
  5. 大卫 hǎo, xièxiè! Great, thanks!
汉字พินอินชนิดคำความหมาย
wǎng prep. toward (direction) — 往 + place + V (chapter grammar anchor)
xiàng prep. toward / facing — 向 + place / person + V (chapter grammar anchor; pair with 往)
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
汉字พินอินชนิดคำความหมาย
wǎng toward (preposition); past, formerly
xiàng toward / facing (preposition); direction 方向 fāngxiàng — direction
rán thus; so (in 自然 / 当然) 自然 zìrán — nature; natural然后 ránhòu — after that当然 dāngrán — of course
yòu again; also; both (chapter anchor in 又…又…)
yuán garden / park (Bk2 ch10) 公园 gōngyuán — park

wǎng toward (preposition); past, formerly เขียน

8 strokes left-right radical 彳

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 เขียน

6 strokes top-bottom

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.

road; path; way เขียน

13 strokes left-right radical 足

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) เขียน

4 strokes single-component

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) จดจำ

7 strokes top-bottom radical 门

qián front; before (in 前面) จดจำ

9 strokes top-bottom

miàn face; surface (in 前面 / 后面 / 上面 / 下面 — locative suffix) จดจำ

9 strokes enclosure

hòu behind; after (in 后面) จดจำ

6 strokes top-bottom

zuǒ left (in 左边; from etymology: hand-on-the-left) จดจำ

5 strokes top-bottom

yòu right (in 右边; from etymology: hand-on-the-right) จดจำ

5 strokes top-bottom

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.

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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