Thai position and directions: where versus movement

Position needs a reference point

Use อยู่ followed by a position and its reference point.

ครูอยู่หน้าโรงเรียน places the teacher in front of the school. ครูอยู่ข้างหน้าโรงเรียน is also a normal form. Compare ครูอยู่หลังโรงเรียน or ครูอยู่ข้างหลังโรงเรียน: the teacher is behind it. The short and longer forms express the same position in these examples.

บ้านอยู่ข้างโรงเรียน places the house beside the school. ข้าง alone gives the side relation; adding หน้า or หลัง changes it to front or behind. Do not assume every phrase with the side word means beside.

บ้านอยู่ระหว่างโรงเรียนกับตลาด places the house between the school and the market. The pattern is ระหว่าง, first reference, กับ, second reference. Name both points; the sentence does not say the house is inside either one.

Front and behind are understood relative to a reference, such as the front of a building. Left and right depend on which way you are facing. A gesture or a map can make that viewpoint clear.

These are spatial uses. Front and back words also occur in time expressions, which are taught separately.

Movement is not location

เลี้ยวซ้าย tells someone to turn left; เลี้ยวขวา tells them to turn right.

ตรงไป is a common go-straight instruction. เดินตรงไป explicitly says to walk straight. เลี้ยวซ้าย and เลี้ยวขวา name the turn; the subject is often omitted when the listener is the person being guided.

โรงเรียนอยู่ทางขวา says the school is on the right. เลี้ยวขวา tells the listener to turn right. One describes a location and the other asks for movement. The school being on the right does not by itself tell you to make a turn.

Imagine the speaker waiting at the school entrance. เดินตรงมาที่นี่ asks the listener to walk straight here, toward that speaker. In เดินตรงไปที่ตลาด, the listener walks straight to the market, away from the speaker. The contrast between มา and ไป still matters in directions.

You can make a direction polite with an ending, as in เลี้ยวซ้ายครับ or เลี้ยวซ้ายค่ะ. The direction stays the same; the ending changes how you address the listener.

Longer routes can combine several movement instructions.

A location is not an instruction

Knowing that a place is on the right does not tell you to turn right now. The action word distinguishes describing the scene from guiding someone through it.