Hot, cold, ouch, look out

Stage 2Versatile adjectivesChunk 8 of 28 · items 148–151 of 484

How the weather and your body feel, and when something is dangerous: hot, cold, it hurts and watch out. These are the daily small-talk openers and the reports and warnings you have to make on the spot.

Mix-ups

atsui and samui are opposites with the same shape (three beats ending -ui) on the same sentence (kyou, ___ ne), so learn atsui first; per 11-list-adjectives note 9(a), keep samui at least 10 items after atsui in drill order even though they share a block. atsui covers hot air and hot things, but samui is only for the air and how you feel: a cold drink is tsumetai. itai (it hurts) sounds almost the same as iru + -tai (want to stay): atama ga itai vs zutto koko ni itai, and the words before it tell you which. abunai is the warning about the situation, while kowai (scared, later block) is the feeling: shout abunai! to stop someone. abunai ends in -nai but is not a negative (not dangerous = abunakunai), so per 11-list-adjectives #42 add it only once the -kunai negative is solid. As reflex shouts all four clip to the stem: atsu!, samu!, ita!, abuna!

atsui

polite atsui desudrama rank #1030

hot (weather, things)

暑い あついPlay 暑いですPlay

Says it's hot, about the weather and air (kyou atsui ne) or about food, drinks and things you touch; the top small-talk opener in summer. Written 暑い for weather and 熱い for things, but it is one word by ear.

casualPlay

kyou, atsui ne

It's hot today.

今日、暑いね

politePlay

kyou wa atsui desu ne

It's hot today.

今日は暑いですね

Touching something hot, people clip it to atsu!; atsui 'thick' differs only in pitch.

Learn alongside: samui

samui

polite samui desudrama rank #1214

cold (weather, feeling)

寒い さむいPlay 寒いですPlay

Says it's cold, about the weather and how you feel (samui! = I'm cold); not for cold drinks or objects, which are tsumetai.

casualPlay

kyou, samui ne

It's cold today.

今日、寒いね

politePlay

kyou wa samui desu ne

It's cold today.

今日は寒いですね

Often clipped to samu!; the drawled samii! is rough, mostly male speech. samui also means a joke fell flat.

Learn alongside: atsuiLearn first: atsui

itai

polite itai desudrama rank #336

painful, it hurts, ouch

痛い いたいPlay 痛いですPlay

Reports pain (atama ga itai = my head hurts; doko ga itai? = where does it hurt?) and is the reflex 'ouch!'; figuratively, sore wa itai = that hurts, that's a blow.

casualPlay

chotto atama itai

I've got a bit of a headache.

ちょっと頭痛い

politePlay

chotto atama ga itai desu

I've got a bit of a headache.

ちょっと頭が痛いです

As a reflex it is clipped to ita! or stretched to ittaa!; itee! / ite! are rough and masculine. About a person or behaviour (ano hito, itai) it is slang for 'cringey'.

abunai

polite abunai desudrama rank #513

dangerous, risky, watch out!

危ない あぶないPlay 危ないですPlay

Warns of danger on the spot (abunai! = watch out!) and calls anything risky, from a road to a plan. It also says something is at risk (jikan, abunai = we might not make it; tesuto, abunai = I might fail). After a near miss, abunakatta = that was close.

casualPlay

soko, abunai yo! ki o tsukete

Careful there! Watch out.

そこ、危ないよ！気をつけて

politePlay

soko, abunai desu yo. ki o tsukete kudasai

It's dangerous there. Please be careful.

そこ、危ないですよ。気をつけてください

As a shout, abunai! is fine to anyone, strangers included, with no desu; abunee! is the rough, mostly male version. 'Not dangerous' is abunakunai.