Expressing "towards" with "xiang"

Revision as of 09:08, 14 March 2013 by Guomubai (talk | contribs)

向 is a proposition that means "towards", and is used often when expressing or referring to a certain point.

Structure

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.

向 + Noun + Verb

Examples

  • 她的 朋友 一直 我 看。
  • 我们 需要 他 道歉。
  • 他 的 女朋友 他 笑 了。
  • 我 要 你 学习!

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):

  • 雷锋 同志 学习 !


See also

Sources and further reading

Books