＜before＞ and ＜after＞ in Native Japanese

How do you say ＜before＞ and ＜after＞ in Native Japanese?

In terms of location

before - ma-e (まえ、Chinese character 前)
There is a car before me.  - Watashi no mae ni kuruma ga aru. わたしのまえにくるまがある。
As ＜ma-e (まえ)＞ is not a preposition but a noun you need to put an helping word ＜ni, に＞ (at).

behind - u-shi-ro (うしろ、Chinese character 後)
There is a car behind me.  - Watashi no ushiro ni kuruma ga aru. わたしのうしろにくろまがある。
As ＜u-shi-ro (うしろ)＞ is not a preposition but a noun you need to put an helping word ＜ni, に＞ (at).

after - a-to (あと、Chinese character is also 後)
I will go behind (after) you. （I will follow you.) - Watashi wa anata no ato kara ikimasu. わたしはあなたのあとからいきます。
As ＜a-to (あと)＞ is not a preposition but a noun you need to put an helping word ＜kara, から＞ (from).

We have no prepositions in Japanese we use helping words (jyoshi, 助詞) instead.

In terms of time

before - ma-e (まえ、Chinese character 前)
Two year before.  - ninen mae (ni)  にねんまえ（に）
As ＜ma-e (まえ)＞ can be used as a noun as well as a adverb you can omit <ni, に> this time. Adding <ni, に> is not a mistake.

behind - a-to (あと、Chinese character is also 後)
Two years later or after two years - ninen ato (ni)  にねんあと（に）
As a-to (あと) can be used as a noun as well as an adverb you can omit ＜ni, に＞ like ＜ma-e (まえ)＞.

＜u-shi-ro (うしろ)＞ is not used in a time frame.

Either English or Japanese you can find a strange thing.

In terms of location

before  - in front
after  - behind

In terms of time 

before  - behind, backward
after  -  in front, forward

You can find this in most other languages - in Chinese too. Why does this conversion between location and time happen ?
Possible answer: People tend to look back in time frame while we see forward physically in terms of location.

sptt

morning, daytime, noon, evening, night

Continuation from <yesterday, today, tomorrow>

morning - a-sa あさ（朝）, a-sa-ga-ta あさがた（朝方）
daytime, noon - hi-ru ひる（昼）, hi-ru-ma ひるま（昼間）
evening - yu-u ゆう（夕）, yu-u-ga-ta ゆうがた（夕方）
night - yo よ（夜）, yo-ru よる（夜）

<ga-ta がた> means "around (about)" in the above so < a-sa-ga-ta あさがた> means "around morning" and <yu-u-ga-ta ゆうがた> means "around evening".

<hi, ひ 日> of <hi-ru ひる> means "day" and "day time".

<ru > is used both in <hi-ru ひる> and <yo-ru よる> but the origin is not well known, and the stress (intonation) differs - hi-ru (ru is stressed) but yo-ru (yo is stressed).

<yu-u-be ゆうべ> means "evening" as well as "last night" or "yesterday evening".


sptt

yesterday, today, tomorrow

Yesterday, today, tomorrow are very frequently used in our everyday life. Not often as these three but the day before yesterday and the day after tomorrow are also used. How do you say in Japanese?

the day before yesterday - o-to-to-i  おととい
yesterday - ki-no-u or ki-no-o  きのう
today - kyo-u or kyo-o  きょう
tomorrow - a-su あす or a-shi-ta あした
the day after tomorrow - a-sa-tte あさって

These are all Native Japanese. We have the Chinese origin words for these and use in some occasions (usually in somehow official occasions and in writing) but we here only talk about the Native Japanese words.

Unlike English there seems no word for <day> used. <Day> is <hi, ひ（Chinese character、日)> in Native Japanese. Actually <day> is <hi, ひ> is hudden. As these words have been so frequently used the pronunciation has been deformed (changed).

the day before yesterday - o-to-to-i  おととい
The final syllable highly likely should have been <hi, ひ>.

yesterday - ki-no-u or ki-no-o  きのう
The final syllable used be pronounced as <hu, ふ>（used be written as ki-no-hu (fu) きのふ ）. This hu (fu) ふ may have originally been pronounced as <hi (fi), ひ>

today - kyo-u or kyo-o  きょう
Likewise the final syllable used be pronounced as <hu, ふ>（used be written as ke-hu (fu) けふ ）. This hu (fu) ふ may have originally been pronounced as <hi (fi), ひ> .

tomorrow - a-shi-ta あした
< a-shi-ta あした> also means "morning" although archaic. This may remind you that in German "(der) Morgen" (noun) means "morning" while "morgen" (adverb) means "tomorrow". The transitions processes are similar. Beside we have the following (not forward but backward).

<yu-u-be ゆうべ> means "evening" as well as "last night (evening)".


sptt