Expressing distance with "li"

One of the ways to express distance is to use 离(lí).

Structure

The structure is:

Place1 + 离 + Place2 + Adverb + 近/远

So this pattern is normally used to simply express that one place is (not) close or (not) far from another place. Easy, right? It's learning the sentence pattern that usually trips learners up, because it doesn't feel like natural word order to a speaker of English.

Examples

• 我 家 离 大学 很 近。My house is close to the university.
• 美国 离 中国 很 远。America is far from China.
• 她 家 离 我 家 不太 近。Her house is not too close to my house.
• 我 家 离 公司 很 近。My house is close to my office.
• 这里 离 那里 很 远 啊。From here to there is very far.
• 那 个 酒吧 离 我 家 太 远 了，我 不 去。That bar is too far away from my house, I'm not going.
• 这 个 酒店 离 火车 站 比较 近。This wine shop is comparatively close to the train station.
• 这 个 房子 离 地铁 站 不 太 远。This apartment is not too far away from the subway station.
• 咖啡 店 离 这儿 比较 近。The coffee shop is comparatively close to here.
• 你 离 我 远 点 儿！Distance yourself from me further.

This sentence pattern is extremely common in everyday conversations when discussing distances.

Note that the final example is a command, and a commonly heard line. It's a somewhat atypical usage when compared with the others, because it uses two people rather than two places. The sentence means "distance yourself from me further," in other words, "stay away from me" or "don't come near me."

See also

• "From… to…" with "cong… dao…"

Sources and further reading

Books

• Basic Patterns of Chinese Grammar (pp. 112 - 113) →buy
• Boya Chinese Elementary Starter 2 (博雅汉语初经起步篇) (p. 11) →buy
• Chinese: An Essential Grammar, Second Edition (pp. 154) →buy