隣
となり
hepburn tonari
next to, neighbor
Part of speech · noun
Pattern visualization
no decomposition available
Examples
- 隣の人は静かです。The person next to me is quiet.
- 隣の家は犬を飼っています。My neighbor keeps a dog.
Collocations
隣 (tonari, next door / next seat)隣の (tonari no, next-door / adjacent)隣り合う (tonariau, to be adjacent)近所 (kinjo, neighborhood)隣人 (rinjin, neighbor — more formal)
Mnemonic
隣 tonari — "immediately adjacent AND of the same category". For "next to" between different kinds, 横 (yoko) is used: 学校の隣の家 (the house next to the school — both buildings OK) vs 学校の横 (next to the school — looser position). 隣 presupposes sameness (house-house, seat-seat, person-person). The Korean yeop and English "next to" blur this distinction; Japanese marks it. Onyomi 隣人 (rinjin, neighbor), 近隣 (kinrin, neighborhood) — also used socially.
Quick check
"The café next to the post office" — most natural Japanese?