前
まえ
mae
= before; in front of; ago
前 (mae) is a small but essential word that pulls double duty: it means both in front of in space and before in time. Whether you’re meeting someone 駅の前 (in front of the station) or something happened 3日前 (three days ago), 前 is doing the work.
In its spatial sense, 前 marks what is ahead of or facing you: 家の前 (in front of the house), 目の前 (right before your eyes). In its temporal sense, it marks earlier time: 前に会ったよね (‘we met before, right?’), 食べる前に (before eating), and counting back with a number — 五分前 (five minutes ago), 一週間前 (a week ago).
A neat quirk is that both meanings often use the same の前 pattern, and context tells them apart. 会議の前 can be ‘in front of the meeting room’ or ‘before the meeting’, but the situation almost always makes it obvious. When 前 modifies a noun, it can also mean ‘previous’: 前の日 (the previous day), 前の会社 (my former company).
Its opposites split depending on which sense you mean, and this trips learners up. The spatial opposite of 前 is 後ろ (ushiro, behind); the temporal opposite is 後 (ato, after). So 前 conveniently covers both ‘front’ and ‘before’, but you must choose between 後ろ and 後 for the reverse. Note too that 前 read alone is mae, but in many compounds it reads zen, as in 前回 (zenkai, last time) and 午前 (gozen, a.m.).
Don’t assume 前 is only about place. ‘Before sleeping’ is 寝る前に, a time expression, even though the same word points ‘in front’ spatially elsewhere. Let context, not the word alone, decide the meaning.
Match the right opposite: the spatial reverse is 後ろ (ushiro), the temporal reverse is 後 (ato). Saying 後ろ when you mean ‘after’ in time is a common mistake.
Finally, don’t be fooled by 名前 (namae, ‘name’), which contains 前 but has nothing to do with ‘front’ or ‘before’ — it’s simply a separate word that happens to include the character.
Everyday use
駅の前で待ち合わせしましょう。
Eki no mae de machiawase shimashou.
Let’s meet up in front of the station.
Formal / Cultural context
三年前に日本語の勉強を始めました。
San-nen mae ni nihongo no benkyou wo hajimemashita.
I started studying Japanese three years ago.
Casual / Social Media
寝る前にスマホを見るのをやめたい。
Neru mae ni sumaho wo miru no wo yametai.
I want to stop looking at my phone before I sleep.
前 shows up in one of the most quietly important words in Japanese social life: 建前 (tatemae), literally ‘the front that is built’ — the public position or polite face someone presents, as opposed to 本音 (honne), their true feelings. The choice of 前 here captures the idea of what is placed in front for others to see, a reminder that the character’s ‘front’ sense reaches well beyond physical space.
The word also anchors the valued attitude 前向き (maemuki, ‘facing forward’, i.e., positive and forward-looking). Encouraging someone to be 前向き is extremely common, and its opposite 後ろ向き (backward-facing, negative) shows how direction words double as metaphors for outlook. Facing 前 is, culturally, the optimistic and constructive way to be.
Finally, 前 features in the everyday standard 一人前 (ichininmae) — literally ‘one person’s worth’ — which means both a full portion of food for one and, figuratively, being a full-fledged, capable adult or professional. Telling someone they have become 一人前 is real praise, showing how a simple positional word threads into ideas of maturity and competence.