What is the difference between 건너편 and 맞은편?
Hi everyone!

Tell me please is there any difference between 건너편 and 맞은편 in the situation when I describe location of buildings or other objects on the street?
And can this words be used in other cases (not only in describing location of objects on the street)?

Thank you very much!

Question

What is the difference between 건너편  and 맞은편?
Hi everyone!

Tell me please is there any difference between 건너편  and 맞은편 in the situation when I describe location of buildings or other objects on the street?
And can this words be used in other cases (not only in describing location of objects on the street)?

Thank you very much!

Answer

kty40809 gave a good answer. Just for your information, 맞은편 gives feelings that the said thing should be near from the standard point. Which is why we can use '바다 건너편' naturally, while '바다 맞은편' rather not. But still if you can see the island with your bare eyes, then it would be fine to say like "그 해변 남쪽으로 맞은편에 작은 섬이 놓여있다."

Answer

Word "건너편" gives feeling that someone should cross a road. 
Word "맞은편" gives feeling that a building faces another building.
Word "맞은편" can be sometimes used to explain location of item to someone.
eg)이 책상을 사물함 맞은편에 두어라

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