Expressing "towards" with "xiang"
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Used for
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Keywords
向 (xiàng) is a preposition that means "towards", and is used often when expressing or referring to a certain point.
Structure
When used as a preposition, "向" indicates an action that is performed towards a reference point, but doesn't have any actual motion towards that point. An example of this in English is, "She looked inside the window." Note that there is no movement in the action.
向 + Noun + Verb
Examples
- 她的 朋友 一直 向 我 看。Her friend keeps looking at me.
- 我们 需要 向 他 道歉。We need to apologize to him.
- 他 的 女朋友 向 他 笑 了。His girlfriend laughed at him.
- 我 要 向 你 学习!I want to learn from you.
Note that whereas in English we would say "learn from someone", in Chinese this would be expressed as "learn toward someone", as in the last example sentence. Refer to the following example (and famous propaganda slogan):
- 向 雷锋 同志 学习 ！Learn from Comrade Lei Feng!
