The Difference Between 内・中 and 隣・横: Prepositions 3

Introduction

So Maru’s been really obsessed with boxes lately. Ever since our Beginner preposition lesson where I mentioned hiding inside of a box and scaring people, she’s been sneaking into empty boxes left and right. The problem is I think she finds them super cozy and so instead of popping out and scaring anyone, she just falls asleep… Oh, Maru.

Anyways, today we’re going to be tackling some more prepositions. We’re gonna talk about being inside of boxes, outside of boxes, beside boxes, and beside boxes but… in a slightly different way. So get excited to think both outside, and inside the box!

Malcolm in the middle/inside/medium

Way back in Beginner we covered 中なか, which was super useful because of that darn spider that ended up inside of your bed (how could you forget such a traumatic experience!). Today we’ll cover a similar preposition called 内うち. We’re going to look at their similarities, differences, and everything in between.

What you first have to understand is that although both 中なか and 内うち both technically mean “inside”, they actually refer to two different types of “inside”. What on earth do I mean? Well, I’ll show you.

This makes sense right? We’ve already covered this use of 中なか. But here’s the catch: you can’t simply substitute in 内うち.

This is because 中なか refers to the inside, or middle of something, while 内うち refers to an “inside” in contrast to an “outside”. Let me show you what I mean.

As you can see from the translation of 1.3, 内うち refers to the inside of something (as opposed to the outside). 内うち is also commonly paired with other kanji, rather than 中なか which is found commonly on its own. Here 側がわ means “side” or “part”, and when combined with 内うち means “the inside”.

Let’s illustrate this with some examples.

So in 1.4, we’re simply stating the location of the kids. Where are the kids? They’re inside the car. But in 1.5, we’re contrasting the inside and outside of the mug. We’re saying that it wasn’t the outside of the mug that was dirty, it was the inside.

To provide a different scenario, if you were walking down the street and saw people “jazzercising” behind a glass window, you’d refer to where they are by saying:

「窓まどの内側うちがわ」

Not,

「窓まどの中なか」

Because 窓まどの中なか sounds as if the people are within the very glass of the window itself! Still with me?

It may deepen your understanding of 中なか by seeing how it functions in different, non-locational scenarios.

• 

  中学校ちゅうがっこう middle school

• 

  中ちゅうジョッキ medium size beer glass

• 

  中指なかゆび middle finger

So as you can see, 中なか isn’t necessarily “inside”, but also “middle” in contrast to things around it (larger/smaller sizes, fingers, grades). 内うち does not follow suit. 内うち always simply denotes an “inside”, in contrast to an “outside”.

Let’s finish off this section with a couple more examples.

Both of ‘em are ok

Now let’s take a look at some scenarios where you could use either 中なか or 内うち.

So both are fine here but, woah! What’s that? 内 has a different reading! When 内 is paired with various kanji, it will fluctuate between being read as うち and ない. Generally, when it comes second in a kanji pair, its reading will change to the onyomi, ない.

The difference in nuance between 2.1 and 2.2 is subtle but definitely exists. 中なか simply designates inside the train as a place where you shouldn’t eat pizza. 内うち contrasts the inside of the train to the outside of the train, meaning there’s a hint of “but you could eat it outside of the train”. Now let’s take a look at a time-based example.

The difference between 中なか and 内うち when used with time expressions is also subtle. 今月中こんげつちゅう basically means “sometime within this month”, maybe at the start, maybe at the end. Whereas 今月こんげつの内うち essentially means “before next month”. Obviously, these are very similar, so feel free to use either one.

Also notice that as it has directly attached to a kanji compound, 中なか has assumed one of its onyomi readings: ちゅう.

As I’m sure you’ve gathered from reading this section, the difference between 中なか and 内うち in scenarios that take either, are quite subtle. So don’t stress about it too much! It'll all stick in your brain with time. Now let’s move on to a slightly less heavy topic.

Stand by me, no wait—next to me!

Structure

• 

  Nounの隣となり・横よこ
  Example:
  → 彼かれは私わたしの隣となりにいます。
  ”He’s beside me.”

In English, we don’t really have a well-defined distinction between, for example, “beside” and “next-to”. However, leave it to Japanese to dig a bit deeper into all the grammatical possibilities. We’re going to talk about one old and one new preposition today, 隣となり and 横よこ, which both mean “beside”, but are also… built different.

There’s one big difference between these two sentences. Can you find it? I’ll give you a few seconds… That’s right! It’s the category of things that are being mentioned. In example 3.1 we are dealing with two people who live beside each other—two neighbors. In 3.2 we are dealing with a desk and a dog. Two very different categories of things, wouldn’t you say? This is the main difference between 隣となり and 横よこ: Things described as being “beside” each other with 隣となり must be in the same category. 横よこ is not bound by this rule.

Let’s see some more examples.

Excellent. Now let’s take a closer look at what each of these prepositions actually expresses.

隣となり refers to the closest thing in a row of the same category.

横よこ refers to anything that exists in a direct line to the left or right of a given thing.

Let's use countries as an example. If we were to use 隣となり, we would say that Korea is Japan’s 「隣となりの国くに」as it’s the closest country in a row, from the viewpoint of Japan. If we were to use 横よこ, however, we could also say that the USA is Japan’s 「横よこの国くに」, or Turkey for that matter, as these three countries are at the same latitude! (Go ahead, pull up a world map to confirm it if you want!) The important thing to remember is that both 隣となり and 横よこ require things to be lined up “horizontally”. So if something is above or below something else, these prepositions are both a no-go.

Here are a couple more examples before we wrap things up:

Finally, it's also possible to have the following type of sentence:

Wherein we first establish a subject and then describe it using 隣となり (or 横よこ).

Congratulations on making it through all those prepositions! Hopefully, you feel more confident expressing where things are, whether they be inside, outside, beside, or... beside.

Here's a summary for ya:

Summary

• 

  Although 中なか and 内うち can both mean "inside", they fundamentally differ in many scenarios.

• 

  〜の中なか often means "inside of something", whereas 〜の内うち側がわ refers to "the inside of something".

• 

  内うち is often paired with a second kanji (usually, 側がわ or "side"), in contrast with 中なか which is usually on its own.

• 

  There are many instances where both 中なか and 内うち can be used, but the difference is often very subtle.

• 

  横よこ and 隣となり both mean "beside" but are slightly different in practice.

• 

  Technically 隣となり refers to the closest thing in a row of the same category.

• 

  横よこ refers to anything that exists in a direct line to the left or right of a given thing.