It's not easy to retain vocabulary and expressions when you're studying a language, and it's especially difficult to get words out on the spot when you're having conversations. I hope these weekly posts could be good practice for your Japanese studies!!
The question for today is: How do you say "cold" in Japanese?? There are actually two ways!!
The answer is...
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つめたい [tsumetai] and さむい [samui]
つめたい [Tsumetai] refers to something being cold when touched.
For example;
つめたいみず [tsumetai mizu] - Cold water
つめたいかぜ [tsumetai kaze] - Cold wind
さむい [Samui] refers to cold weather or temperature.
For example;
きょうはさむい [kyou wa samui] - It's cold today
さむいへや [samui heya] - Cold room
わたしはさむい [watashi wa samui] - I am cold
When talking about a cold room, you can't use つめたい since you're talking about the temperature of the room, but you can say かべがつめたい [the wall is cold] or ゆかがつめたい [the floor is cold] since you would be touching them.
Writer's note: あつい meaning hot, can be for both temperatures and for objects so it's not really fair for "cold" to have two different words. Just my opinion.