First let’s take a look at these location words:

ここ – right here

そこ – right there

あそこ – over there

なか – inside

うえ – on/above

した – under/beneath

まえ – in front of

うしろ – behind

みぎ – right

ひだり – left

そば – near

ちかく – near

The formula for describing the location of things, is this: place 1 + は particle + place 2 + の particle + location word + です. For example, a sentence like this, だいがく　は　ほんや　の　となり　です. (だいがく = university. は = subject marking particle. ほんや = book store. の = no particle. となり = next to. です = copula “is”.) means “The university is next to the book store.” You can also use the negative present polite of です, which is じゃありません. If you replace じゃありません with the です, you get the sentence, “The university is not next to the book store”.