Don't understand the structure of 「夕方アパートの山田さん宅の玄関で」


I've just stumbled upon a phrase:

> 「夕方【ゆうがた】 アパートの山田【やまだ】さん宅【たく】の玄関【げんかん】で」

If I understand it correctly, the meaning is:

> In the evening, at the front door of Yamada's apartment.

What I don't understand is the way the phrase is constructed. It reads like:

> In the evening, at apartment's Yamada's front door.

It feels like there's an ambiguity whether it's the "apartment's Yamada" or
the "apartment's front door". Why not:

> 「夕方【ゆうがた】 山田【やまだ】さんのアパートの玄関【げんかん】で」

This might not be a good analogy, but if I decide to stick to the original
phrase's structure and unwind the sentences from the end, then the following:

> 猫【ねこ】の山田【やまだ】さんの鼻【はな】

could be translated as:

> Nose of Yamada's cat.
>
> (cat's Yamada's nose ~= apartment's Yamada's front door)

But I feel that the correct translation would rather be:

> Nose of cat's Yamada.

Which doesn't make sense... I'm confused.




Japanese アパート refers not only to an individual apartment, but also to a whole
"apartment house/building" in English. In fact, the latter is the primary
meaning of アパート. [See jisho.org's
definition](http://jisho.org/search/%E3%82%A2%E3%83%91%E3%83%BC%E3%83%88).

Obviously, アパート in アパートの山田さん宅の玄関で refers to the whole apartment building.
山田さん宅 is the phrase that corresponds to "Yamada's apartment" in English here
(宅 ≒ house). The word order should look pretty natural if you know that. (To
be clear, the phrase means "at the front door of Yamada's apartment of the
apartment house")

Of course, 山田さんのアパート can mean a whole apartment building owned by Yamada.

* * *

**EDIT:**

  * 「アパートの山田さん宅の玄関」 makes perfect sense only if the listener and the speaker already know which apartment _building_ they are talking about. (I took it for granted in my original answer, but that might not be obvious.) Otherwise, the speaker needs to specify which building he is referring to, by saying "このアパートの" or "駅前のアパートの", etc.
  * 「山田さんのアパートの玄関」 would theoretically be ambiguous, because アパート can mean both "apartment (room)" and "apartment building". But I won't say this is a confusing phrase, because the listener usually knows whether 山田 is one of the residents of the building or the owner of the building. It's very unlikely that this causes a real misunderstanding. I have used 彼のアパート, ○○さんのアパート many times in my life without any problem. Likewise, if you heard someone say アパートを買った, you have to guess whether he bought a room or he bought a whole building. But that's not tough, is it?
  * The same can be said for [マンション](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/11654/5010).




Japanese アパート refers not only to an individual apartment, but also to a whole
"apartment house/building" in English. In fact, the latter is the primary
meaning of アパート. [See jisho.org's
definition](http://jisho.org/search/%E3%82%A2%E3%83%91%E3%83%BC%E3%83%88).

Obviously, アパート in アパートの山田さん宅の玄関で refers to the whole apartment building.
山田さん宅 is the phrase that corresponds to "Yamada's apartment" in English here
(宅 ≒ house). The word order should look pretty natural if you know that. (To
be clear, the phrase means "at the front door of Yamada's apartment of the
apartment house")

Of course, 山田さんのアパート can mean a whole apartment building owned by Yamada.

* * *

**EDIT:**

  * 「アパートの山田さん宅の玄関」 makes perfect sense only if the listener and the speaker already know which apartment _building_ they are talking about. (I took it for granted in my original answer, but that might not be obvious.) Otherwise, the speaker needs to specify which building he is referring to, by saying "このアパートの" or "駅前のアパートの", etc.
  * 「山田さんのアパートの玄関」 would theoretically be ambiguous, because アパート can mean both "apartment (room)" and "apartment building". But I won't say this is a confusing phrase, because the listener usually knows whether 山田 is one of the residents of the building or the owner of the building. It's very unlikely that this causes a real misunderstanding. I have used 彼のアパート, ○○さんのアパート many times in my life without any problem. Likewise, if you heard someone say アパートを買った, you have to guess whether he bought a room or he bought a whole building. But that's not tough, is it?
  * The same can be said for [マンション](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/11654/5010).

