ظرف المكان is a special category of nouns in Arabic used in a sentence to denote place. It is a special type of noun in Arabic, but it can be understood as an adverbial of place, as it gives the place in which a certain action takes place. It is the word that answers the question: “where did the action take place”? Consider the following examples:

جلست تحت الشجرة.

I sat under the tree.

أنام فوق الفراش.

I sleep on the bed.

أسير  ناحية الجامعة.

I walk towards the university.

ظرف المكان is usually accusative (منصوب).

Some examples of ظرف المكان are as follows:

تجاهَ  = towards

أمامَ = in front of

خلفَ = behind

قربَ = near

حولَ = around

شرقَ = east

غربَ = west

جنوبَ  = south

شمالَ = north

فوقَ = above

تحتَ = under

يمينَ = right

يسارَ = left

جانبَ = beside

بينَ = between

ناحيةَ = towards

وسطَ = in the middle of

خلالَ = through