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What is the general term native speakers use for a paved area belonging to the house where you can park cars, walk around, play with a dog etc.?

I am translating a sentence, but there is not much context whether the yard is located in front or back of the building. If I knew that, I would use backyard/frontyard. I just know that there is such a place. It is with a paved surface and there is a large car park, probably no garden or lawn.

"The noise came from the yard..."

Can I use yard? Doesn't it imply that there should also be a garden or at least a strip of lawn...because I guess it is not in my case.

Thank you in advance!

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    Americans call a "yard" what Brits call a 'garden'. In Britain, a 'yard' is an un-grassed area, usually behind or beside some industrial building, where you see stored stacks of timber, steel girders, or whatever.
    – Michael Harvey
    Commented Sep 21, 2019 at 20:54

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You might be interested in "driveway":

  • A driveway (also called drive in UK English)1 is a type of private road for local access to one or a small group of structures, and is owned and maintained by an individual or group.
    (Wikipedia)

  • driveway
    noun
    A short road leading from a public road to a house or other building.
    ‘one of the suspects backed a vehicle into the driveway’
    (Lexico)

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The fact that you could park your car there makes me think of this. Also, driveways are often used recreationally. It's not uncommon for kids to play there, or for families to set up make-shift basketball courts on them, for example.

In AmE, at least for a small house (like the one pictured above), I imagine the yard to be a grassy area. See number 2 below.

Definition of yard
1 a : a small usually walled and often paved area open to the sky and adjacent to a building : court
b : the grounds of a building or group of buildings
2 : the grounds immediately surrounding a house that are usually covered with grass
(M-W)

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I suspect this would be regional, but in my area (USA), "patio" might work.

"Patio" is a commonly used word here, always paved (either concrete or maybe with brick or some kind of stone), usually associated with a private home; reasonable size for kids to play, adults to socialize, or family to eat outdoors. People don't usually park cars there (I think), but you could.

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