Location words: 里边, 旁边, 对面…
名词 / nouns (方位名词)
Tone colorsā tone 1á tone 2ǎ tone 3à tone 4a neutral
To say where something is, Chinese puts the location word after the noun, the opposite of English: "in the room" is 房间里边 (lit. "room-inside").
The most common ones: 上边 (on top), 下边 (under), 里边 (inside), 外边 (outside), 前边 (in front), 后边 (behind), 左边 / 右边 (left / right), 旁边 (next to), 对面 (opposite), 中间 (in the middle), and the compass points 东边, 南边, 西边, 北边.
边 can often be replaced by 面 (上面, 里面) or 头 (里头, 外头, more colloquial). After a noun, it is often shortened to 上 / 里: 桌子上, 房间里.
Combine them with 在 ("to be located") or 有 ("there is"): 超市在银行旁边。/ 银行旁边有一个超市。
Examples
超市在银行旁边。
Chāoshì zài yínháng pángbiān.The supermarket is next to the bank.
我家对面有一个公园。
Wǒ jiā duìmiàn yǒu yí ge gōngyuán.There is a park opposite my home.
你的手机在桌子上。
Nǐ de shǒujī zài zhuōzi shang.Your phone is on the table.
房间里边很干净。
Fángjiān lǐbian hěn gānjìng.It's very clean inside the room.
Common mistakes
Don't put the location word before the noun: ✗ 在旁边银行 → ✓ 在银行旁边.
With a country or city name, don't add 里: ✗ 在中国里 → ✓ 在中国.