(updating…)
Being able to express your emotions is an important skill in any language. Emotions are a big part of human expression and can even be quite important in communicating effectively. If I’m happy, it comes through in my body language, my facial expressions, my tone of voice, etc. The same thing happens if I’m sad or upset. In many cases people can recognize your emotions instantly. For me, it’s quite easy to express how I’m feeling in English, because it’s my native language. If I’m happy, elated, sad, pensive, angry, worried, bored, you name it….I can say so. What I’ve realized lately, though, is that there are some very important basics missing from my Japanese repertoire. The emotional adjectives are one group of those basics. I honestly don’t have the vocabulary to tell a person just how I’m feeling, so I figured (once) again, that I’d use my blog as a way to teach myself something new and maybe help someone else in the process.
A very important note about emotional words in Japanese is that they are not all going to be used as adjectives. Some words that describe emotions will be verbs instead. For example with the word happy, ureshii (うれしい), is an adjective just as it is in English. The word “hungry,” though not exactly an emotion, is a word that represents an adjective in English but is treated like a verb in the Japanese language, onnaka ga tsuku (おなかがすく). There are two types of Japanese adjectives, “i” and “na”, and I will focus on those and how to use them in another blog post. For now, just keep that fact in mind.
I know I may not fully understand the proper usage of the emotional words, but knowing what they are is half the battle.
1. Happy- Ureshii: うれしい; 嬉しい
2. Elated- Kozen: こうぜん
3. Angry- Ikaru: おこる or いかる; 怒る
4. Worried- Nayamu: なやむ; 悩む
5. Scared- Ojiru: おじる;怖じる
6. Terrified- Kyouzen: きょうぜん;境然
7. Relieved- Sutto: すうっと;
8. Bored- Tsumaranasou: つまらなそう; 詰まらなそう
9. Silly- Tawainai: たわいない; 他愛ない
10. Shocked- Akireru: あきれる; 呆れる
11. Annoyed- Urusagaru: うるさがる; 煩がる
12. Rushed- Soso: そうそう; 匆々
13. Excited- Gekko: げっこう; 激昂
14. Sad- Kanashi: かなしい; 悲しい
15. Lonely- Sabishi: さびしい; 寂しい
16. Lazy- Tsutsushimanai: つつしまない
17. Shy- Hazukashi: はずかしい; 恥ずかしい
18. Bashful- Shuchi: しゅうち; 羞恥
19. Eager- Setsutunaru: せつなる; 切なる
20. Calm- Nagoyaku: なごやく; あラカジめ
21. Relaxed- Arakajime: あらかじめ
22. Anxious- Anjiru: あんじる; 案じる
23. Condescending- Onkisegamashi: おんきせがましい; 恩着せがましい
24. Cautious- Sononai: そつのない; 卒のない
25. Confused- Magomago: まごまご;
See you next time,
Donald Ash
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