In front vs behind a car dilemma

> Does that mean I will park after I surpassed the next car We don't say "surpassed". We say you went past. Forget about parked cars for a moment. Imagine you are driving along a road, **behind** another car. You go faster, and overtake the car. You go past it. Now, **it** is **behind** you. But you are not behind it. You are in front of it. --- The same thing is true for parked cars, **unless** some are facing the wrong way. [I will deal with that later.] If all the parked cars are facing in the direction of travel, and you park BEHIND one, you're parking BEFORE you have gone past it. Once you go past it, you are no longer behind it. --- Let's imagine I am driving along a road, and AHEAD of me, there are two parked cars. A red one, and then a blue one. If I pull in before I get to the red car, and stop, I am behind both of them. If I park between them, I will be in front of the red car, but behind the blue car. If I go past both of them, I will be in front of both. --- [The "exception" - when cars are facing the wrong way] Go back to where we were. Driving along, and AHEAD, parked, is a red car, and then a blue car. **But** the parked blue car is facing us. Its headlights are pointing towards us. In this case, saying "park behind the blue car" could be confusing. It could mean either a) Park between the red and blue car, or, b) Go past the blue car, and park at the back end of it. There is no perfect answer to that problem. If it caused confusion, you would have to clarify exactly what you meant. Such as, saying "park between them" or "park after you pass both". --- Going back to your question; > If cars are parked and I say I want to park behind the next car. Does that mean I will park after I surpassed the next car No. > or do I park at the rear side of the next car. It depends. If the rear side is closest to you, then yes. You park before you get to it. If the rear side is furthest away from you - if it's parked the wrong way round - then it's not clear. You would have to explain further. Ask for clarification. "Do you mean at the rear of the car, or do you mean before we get to it?"

"behind X" always takes the perspective of X. It's not a matter of opinion. "I want to park behind the next car" = park before passing that car "I want to park with the next car behind me" = park after passing that car

If I was going to pass the car / Park on the front side of the car, I would say I want to park past or in front of the next car. I would take behind to be the rear side of the car. But I understand the thought on it.

If you're specifically talking about parallel parking, you would probably say, "I want to park between those two cars." But say you're in a driveway. You park behind the car closer to the house or building, unless they're turned backwards (the front of the car is pointing towards the street). Most folks will say they've parked behind a car if you are parking on the side with the back bumper and in front of if they park facing the front of the car.

When parallel parking, park in between the cars. Or pull up in front of the van, and park there. Pull up behind the blue bmw and park there, in between the van and the bmw. Even if you're driving the other direction you always park behind the rear bumper, and in front of the front bumper or bonnet as the Brits do.

>I want to park behind the next car.  This means you want to end up with your car behind this car, the car that is next when you make the decision.

If you're parking "behind" another vehicle, you will see their tail lights out your windscreen. If you're parking "in front" of another vehicle, you'll see their headlights in your mirrors. This is hard and fast and completely unambiguous to native speakers.

Behind a car is aft of its rear end. In front of a car is ahead of its front end. If you want to pass the car and then park, can say you are parking beyond it or just past it but you cannot say behind.

If someone said to me “behind the next car”, I would assume they meant when they are done parking, the hood of their car will be close to the muffler of the car they were referring to. They will be behind it when they are done. If someone meant they wanted to park so that their rear end was in front of the car in question, they should say “past the next car, beyond the next car, in front of the next car, after the next car”.

Behind the car is behind the trunk/boot In front of the car is by the hood/bonnett

You're behind a car if the rear of the car (with the trunk/boot) is facing you. You're in front of a car if the front of the car (with the engine) is facing you.

I think some confusion is removed (maybe) by using the terms 'after' and 'before'. While you can see 'before' used in a spevific front-facing context, if I say, "park before that car" it won't matter which way the car faces. Contextually I'm likely to be specific too: "Park in the space before that car" "Parallel park in the space between those two cars" I hope I have understood your dilemma.

I really don't follow this dilemma at all. Imagine we are driving in your car and we arrive at our destination. We are looking for parking spaces and I see one and I say to you, "Ah I see a spot! Pull in and park after that gray Merc". Surely you would drive past it and then park in front of it. No difference if I say to you, "Pull in and park behind that gray Merc." It has to mean the Gray Merc is parked in front of us, if we are behind it. What context are you imagining making this utterance in that renders it impossibly ambiguous? I don't see any ambiguity if we replace "gray Merc" with "the next car".

You're talking about parking in an open space between two cars. So you'd be parking behind the next or more distant car, and in front of the car closer to you.

Not really answering your question - to be honest for the sake of simplicity/to make it quicker I’d just say “I’m gonna park here”

"behind" means you're to the rear of the next car, whichever car the "next" one is, which is a little unclear how you described it. If it's [Car A] [Space] [Car B] and you park in [space], then you're behind [car A] and in front of [Car B], assuming you're all pointed in the direction of Car A. If you were pointed the other way, then you'd be in front of Car A and behind Car B. I don't really see any ambiguity in "in front of" vs "behind" here since cars have a clear front and rear. There might be ambiguity regarding which car is the "next" one though, especially if you're in a moving vehicle at the time.