Expressing "towards" with "xiang"
When used as a preposition, "向" (xiàng) indicates an action that is performed towards a reference point. An example of this in English is, "She looked inside the window." Note that there is no movement in the action.
Here's the basic structure:
向 + Noun + Verb
Here are some examples of this preposition in action:
- 她的 朋友 一直 向 我 看。
- 我们 需要 向 他 道歉。
- 他 的 女朋友 向 他 笑 了。
- 我 要 向 你 学习!
Note that whereas in English we would say "learn from you", in Chinese this would be expressed as "learn toward you", as in the last example sentence.