Japanese Phrase Lesson : Hot and Cold

PuniPuni Japanese Lesson : Hot and Cold – Review Notes

Today we learned how to say “hot” and “cold” in Japanese. In this review, we will learn about two other words that mean “hot” and “cold” and we will talk about the difference between them.

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Number 1:

★　Samui means “cold.”

★　You use samui for cold weather and for when you feel cold. There is a different word for cold objects, which we will discuss below.

★　You can add “desu” at the end to make it more formal.

★　If you want to say it was cold, you can say samukatta.

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Example 1:

今日は寒いですね。

Kyō wa samui desu ne.

It’s cold today, huh?

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Example 2:

昨日は寒かったですね。

Kinō wa samukatta desu ne.

It was cold yesterday, huh?

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Number 2:

★　Atsui means “hot.”

★　There is another word for hot, but it is pronounced the same. The kanji is different, and so is the use, but if you are just hearing it, it sounds the same. We will explain more below.

★　If you want to say it was hot you can say atsukatta.

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Example 1:

今年の夏は暑いですね。

Kotoshi no natsu wa atsui desu ne.

This summer is hot, isn’t it?

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Example 2:

去年の夏は暑かったですね。

  Kyonen no natsu wa atsukatta desu ne.

  Last summer was hot, huh?

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Samui （寒い）and Tsumetai（冷たい）:

There are actually two words in Japanese that translate to “cold” in English.

Samui is used for cold weather and when you are cold because of the air temperature.

Tsumetai is used for cold objects such as a cold chair, a cold drink, or anything else besides weather. In addition, tsumetai can be used to describe a person’s attitude, just as cold can be used in English.

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Example 1:

冷たい水をください。

Tsumetai mizu o kudasai.

Please give me cold water.

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Example 2:

あの人は冷たい人です。

Ano hito wa tsumetai hito desu.

That person is cold. (personality)

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Atsui（暑い）and Atsui（熱い）:

Although they are pronounced exactly the same and they both mean hot, they are actually separate words.

Atsui（暑い）is used for hot weather and when you are hot because of the air temperature.

Atsui（熱い）is used for hot objects or things such as a hot pan, hot food, or anything else besides weather.

Since everything except the kanji is the same, it’s ok to think of them as the same word at first if it helps you to remember them.

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Example:

そのフライパンはまだ熱いですよ。

Sono furaipan wa mada atsui desu yo.

That frying pan is still hot.

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Conclusion:

In this lesson we learned that there are two different words for hot and for cold in Japanese. However, the two words for hot are pronounced the same, making it easier to remember how to say them! Practice saying these words when talking about hot or cold weather (samui, atsui) or hot or cold objects (tsumetai, atsui).

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Get Japanese dictionary!

Do you want to know a lot of Japanese words? I recommend you to get a dictionary!

If you have dictionary, you can always look up new Japanese words\(◕ω◕)/♥

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