<p><strong>方位次</strong> are directions and positions with respect to something and include</p>

<ul>
<li>relative directions

<ul>
<li>up/down - 上/下</li>
<li>left/right - 左/右</li>
<li>front/back - 前/后</li>
<li>in/out - 里/外</li>
</ul></li>
<li>cardinal directions

<ul>
<li>north/south - 北/南</li>
<li>east/west - 东/西</li>
</ul></li>
</ul>

<p>which can prefix words like face, side, and corner to produce further position nouns.</p>

<p><strong>处所词</strong> are both places and proper nouns such as 上海.</p>

<p>They can be placed into 到。。。去 with nothing else and be grammatically correct such as 到上海去 and 到美国去, whereas general nouns, like 桌子, are not 处所词 as the sentence 到桌子去 is grammatically incorrect, although if 桌子那儿 is used instead of 桌子, this can be used as a place noun.</p>

<p>At least that is my general understanding of <a href="https://chinese.stackexchange.com/users/6065/user6065">user6065</a>'s comment</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>实用汉语语法＂４。３。２ 处所词 lg. place word。处所词的语法特点是：能做＂在＂＂到＂的宾语，能放在＂到。。。去＂的格式中。例如：在上海，到上海去。一般名词不能放在＂到。。。去＂的格式中。不能说＂到桌子去＂，＂到老张去＂，除非加上＂那儿＂使之成为处所短语，如＂到桌子那儿去＂，到老张那儿去＂。 所有的地名都是处所词，如：美国、亚洲、北京、天安门、颐和园，等等。＂邮局、宿舍、图书馆＂等既是名词，又是处所词。 ４。３。４ 方位词 noun of locality。方位词的语法特点基本上跟处所词相同。汉语共有１４个单音方位词：上、下、前、后、里、外、内、中、左、右、东、西、南、北。单音方位词加上＂边、面、头＂组成合成方位词。如：上边、后头、外边、左面、东头。所谓方位，既指空间，又指时间。＂屋前＂、＂屋后＂的＂前＂、＂后＂指处所，＂饭前＂、＂饭后＂的＂前＂、＂后＂指时间。名词加单方位词可以构成处所短语或时间短语。方位词不受数量短语的修饰，但是并不绝对排斥副词的修饰。例如：＂太前＂、＂太后＂；＂最前＂、＂最后＂。这中特点接近于形容词。单音方位词是一种黏着词，单用的能力很差；合成方位词比单音方位词要自由得多</p>
  
  <p><a href="https://chinese.stackexchange.com/users/6065/user6065">user6065</a></p>
</blockquote>

<p>but my Chinese isn't good enough to be sure that I understood the comment correctly.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-09-15T09:43:34.693Z
2018-09-15T09:43:34.693Z
Ryan White
<p>There are supposedly 4 <a href="https://resources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/grammar/Noun#Subcategories" rel="nofollow noreferrer">categories</a> of nouns in Chinese, according to <a href="https://resources.allsetlearning.com" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Chinese Grammar Wiki</a>:</p>

<ul>
<li><a href="https://resources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/grammar/Proper_nouns_and_common_nouns" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Proper nouns and common nouns</a></li>
<li><a href="https://resources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/grammar/Position_nouns" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Position nouns</a></li>
<li><a href="https://resources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/grammar/Location_nouns" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Location nouns</a></li>
<li><a href="https://resources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/grammar/Time_noun" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Time nouns</a></li>
</ul>

<p>The links to Position and Location nouns from the website are empty, and the titles say Location noun and Location Nouns respectively.</p>

<p>Are they the same thing? Perhaps this is just a mistake. I wasn't able to find a definition of position/location nouns on the site or a similar concept on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noun#Classification_of_nouns" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Wikipedia's Nouns page</a>.</p>

<p>It's quite hard to find anything on <strong>position</strong> and <strong>place</strong> nouns perhaps because search engines assume I am trying to figure out the correct position in a sentence to place a noun.</p>

<p>Also, what are either of the definitions?</p>

<p>Would any of the following in Chinese be <strong>position</strong> or <strong>place</strong> nouns and if so which ones:</p>

<ul>
<li>here</li>
<li>there</li>
<li>up</li>
<li>down</li>
<li>nearby</li>
<li>home</li>
<li>hospital</li>
<li>work</li>
<li>right</li>
<li>left</li>
<li>north</li>
<li>south</li>
</ul>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-09-15T06:39:57.560Z
If you set engine language as Chinese and search 方位词 处所词, you ll find their definition(In Chinese, apparently)
Toosky Hierot
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-09-15T06:57:37.617Z
＂实用汉语语法＂４。３。２ **处所词** lg. place word。处所词的语法特点是：能做＂在＂＂到＂的宾语，能放在＂到。。。去＂的格式中。例如：在上海，到上海去。一般名词不能放在＂到。。。去＂的格式中。不能说＂到桌子去＂，＂到老张去＂，除非加上＂那儿＂使之成为处所短语，如＂到桌子那儿去＂，到老张那儿去＂。 所有的地名都是处所词，如：美国、亚洲、北京、天安门、颐和园，等等。＂邮局、宿舍、图书馆＂等既是名词，又是处所词。
４。３。４ **方位词**  noun of locality。方位词的语法特点基本上跟处所词相同。汉语共有１４个单音方位词：上、下、前、后、里、外、内、中、左、右、东、西、南、北。单音方位词加上＂边、面、头＂组成合成方位词。如：上边、后头、外边、左面、东头。所谓方位，既指空间，又指时间。＂屋前＂、＂屋后＂的＂前＂、＂后＂指处所，＂饭前＂、＂饭后＂的＂前＂、＂后＂指时间。名词加单方位词可以构成处所短语或时间短语。方位词不受数量短语的修饰，但是并不绝对排斥副词的修饰。例如：＂太前＂、＂太后＂；＂最前＂、＂最后＂。这中特点接近于形容词。单音方位词是一种黏着词，单用的能力很差；合成方位词比单音方位词要自由得多。
user6065
<grammar>
Difference between location nouns and place/position nouns, 方位词 vs 处所词
# Difference between location nouns and place/position nouns, 方位词 vs 处所词

(Asked by: username_0 on 2018-09-15)

There are supposedly 4 [categories](https://resources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/grammar/Noun#Subcategories) of nouns in Chinese, according to [Chinese Grammar Wiki](https://resources.allsetlearning.com):

* [Proper nouns and common nouns](https://resources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/grammar/Proper_nouns_and_common_nouns)
* [Position nouns](https://resources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/grammar/Position_nouns)
* [Location nouns](https://resources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/grammar/Location_nouns)
* [Time nouns](https://resources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/grammar/Time_noun)

The links to Position and Location nouns from the website are empty, and the titles say Location noun and Location Nouns respectively.

Are they the same thing? Perhaps this is just a mistake. I wasn't able to find a definition of position/location nouns on the site or a similar concept on [Wikipedia's Nouns page](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noun#Classification_of_nouns).

It's quite hard to find anything on **position** and **place** nouns perhaps because search engines assume I am trying to figure out the correct position in a sentence to place a noun.

Also, what are either of the definitions?

Would any of the following in Chinese be **position** or **place** nouns and if so which ones:

* here
* there
* up
* down
* nearby
* home
* hospital
* work
* right
* left
* north
* south

**Tags:** grammar

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: If you set engine language as Chinese and search 方位词 处所词, you ll find their definition(In Chinese, apparently)  
> **username_2**: ＂实用汉语语法＂４。３。２ **处所词** lg. place word。处所词的语法特点是：能做＂在＂＂到＂的宾语，能放在＂到。。。去＂的格式中。例如：在上海，到上海去。一般名词不能放在＂到。。。去＂的格式中。不能说＂到桌子去＂，＂到老张去＂，除非加上＂那儿＂使之成为处所短语，如＂到桌子那儿去＂，到老张那儿去＂。 所有的地名都是处所词，如：美国、亚洲、北京、天安门、颐和园，等等。＂邮局、宿舍、图书馆＂等既是名词，又是处所词。 ４。３。４ **方位词**  noun of locality。方位词的语法特点基本上跟处所词相同。汉语共有１４个单音方位词：上、下、前、后、里、外、内、中、左、右、东、西、南、北。单音方位词加上＂边、面、头＂组成合成方位词。如：上边、后头、外边、左面、东头。所谓方位，既指空间，又指时间。＂屋前＂、＂屋后＂的＂前＂、＂后＂指处所，＂饭前＂、＂饭后＂的＂前＂、＂后＂指时间。名词加单方位词可以构成处所短语或时间短语。方位词不受数量短语的修饰，但是并不绝对排斥副词的修饰。例如：＂太前＂、＂太后＂；＂最前＂、＂最后＂。这中特点接近于形容词。单音方位词是一种黏着词，单用的能力很差；合成方位词比单音方位词要自由得多。  

---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_0 on 2018-09-15. Score: 0 | Accepted answer

**方位次** are directions and positions with respect to something and include

* relative directions
  + up/down - 上/下
  + left/right - 左/右
  + front/back - 前/后
  + in/out - 里/外
* cardinal directions
  + north/south - 北/南
  + east/west - 东/西

which can prefix words like face, side, and corner to produce further position nouns.

**处所词** are both places and proper nouns such as 上海.

They can be placed into 到。。。去 with nothing else and be grammatically correct such as 到上海去 and 到美国去, whereas general nouns, like 桌子, are not 处所词 as the sentence 到桌子去 is grammatically incorrect, although if 桌子那儿 is used instead of 桌子, this can be used as a place noun.

At least that is my general understanding of [username_2](https://chinese.stackexchange.com/users/6065/username_2)'s comment

> 实用汉语语法＂４。３。２ 处所词 lg. place word。处所词的语法特点是：能做＂在＂＂到＂的宾语，能放在＂到。。。去＂的格式中。例如：在上海，到上海去。一般名词不能放在＂到。。。去＂的格式中。不能说＂到桌子去＂，＂到老张去＂，除非加上＂那儿＂使之成为处所短语，如＂到桌子那儿去＂，到老张那儿去＂。 所有的地名都是处所词，如：美国、亚洲、北京、天安门、颐和园，等等。＂邮局、宿舍、图书馆＂等既是名词，又是处所词。 ４。３。４ 方位词 noun of locality。方位词的语法特点基本上跟处所词相同。汉语共有１４个单音方位词：上、下、前、后、里、外、内、中、左、右、东、西、南、北。单音方位词加上＂边、面、头＂组成合成方位词。如：上边、后头、外边、左面、东头。所谓方位，既指空间，又指时间。＂屋前＂、＂屋后＂的＂前＂、＂后＂指处所，＂饭前＂、＂饭后＂的＂前＂、＂后＂指时间。名词加单方位词可以构成处所短语或时间短语。方位词不受数量短语的修饰，但是并不绝对排斥副词的修饰。例如：＂太前＂、＂太后＂；＂最前＂、＂最后＂。这中特点接近于形容词。单音方位词是一种黏着词，单用的能力很差；合成方位词比单音方位词要自由得多
>
> [username_2](https://chinese.stackexchange.com/users/6065/username_2)

but my Chinese isn't good enough to be sure that I understood the comment correctly.


---

