Learn To Give Directions In Mandarin Chinese

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Written byZoe Mei

If you visit China or Taiwan, you'll need to know how to ask for directions.

In this lesson, we'll cover essential direction vocabulary and help you ask for directions in Chinese.

Chinese Directions (中方向)- (zhōng fāng xiàng)

Cardinal (map) directions in Chinese

These are your compass directions:

English Chinese Characters Pinyin
east dōng
south nán
west 西
north běi

Intercardinal (map) directions in Chinese

Intercardinals are the directions in between the cardinals.

In Chinese these are easy - just combine the two words together. KEY POINT: "East" and "West" always come first in Chinese (e.g. 'westsouth' rather than 'southwest' as in English).

English Chinese Characters Pinyin
northeast 东北 dōngběi
southeast 东南 dōngnán
northwest 西北 xīběi
southwest 西南 xīnán

Directions for the road (positional)

English Chinese Characters Pinyin
left zuǒ
right 右 / 权利 Yòu / Quán lì
up Shàng
down Xià
in front of 面前 miàn qián
in back of 在回 zài huí
far yuǎn
near jìn
street jiē
avenue 大街 dà jiē

Examples of giving or asking for directions in Chinese:

The store is located to the right of the university.

该 店 位 于 大 学 的 权 利

Nà jiā shāngdiàn shì zài gāoxiào de quán lì

Where is the Libertador avenue?

哪 里 是 解 放 者 大 街

Nǎlǐ shì jiěfàng zhě dà jiē

The municipality is near to the square.

市 政 当 局 正 在 附 近 的 广 场

Shìzhèng dāngjú zhèngzài fù jìn de guǎngchǎng

Chile is south of Peru.

智 利 是 南 秘 鲁

Zhìlì shì nán bìlǔ

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