Vocabulary Card – 寒い – samui

furigana: さむい
romaji: samui
Meaning: cold
Level: JLPT N5


Writing

Kanji Meaning Onyomi Kunyomi JLPT
寒 cold KAN samu(i) 5
い hiragana i 5

Grammar: i-adjective

Form Kanji Furigana
Romaji JLPT
plain form 寒い さむい samui 5
past 寒かった さむかった samukatta –
negation 寒くない さむくない samukunai –
past negation 寒くなかった さむくなかった samukunakatta –
sa form 寒さ さむさ samusa –
sou form 寒そう さむそう samusou –

Examples

Kanji ロッシアの冬はとても寒いです。
Furigana ロッシアのふゆはとてもさむいです。
Romaji rosshia no fuyu wa totemo samui desu.
English The winter in Russia is very cold.

Vocabulary

Synonym

Kanji Furigana
Romaji Meaning JLPT
–

Opposite

Kanji Furigana
Romaji Meaning JLPT
暑い あつい atsui hot (air) 5

Related words

Kanji Furigana
Romaji Meaning JLPT
温かい あたたかい atatakai warm 5
涼しい すずしい suzushii cool 5

Kanji Card – 寒

寒

5DB2 - 寒

Meaning: cold

Onyomi: KAN

Kunyomi: samu(i)

Strokes: 12 (click on the pic to start the video)

Vocabulary:

寒い – samui – cold

寒気 – kanki – chill, shivering, cold air

Kanji Card – 漢

漢

6F22 - 漢

Meaning: Han-dynasty, China, man

Onyomi: KAN

Kunyomi: –

Strokes: 13 (click on the pic to start the video)

Vocabulary:

漢字 – kanji – Chinese character, Kanji

i-adjectives: the sa-form

The Japanese language is very flexible with adjectives. The sa-form allows to use an i-adjective as a noun or in other words to add ~ness to it (e.g. useful => usefulness, powerful => powerfulness, etc.)

It is very easy to build. Just replace “i” at the end of the word with a “sa”. So 楽しい (tanoshii, enjoyable) becomes joy as 楽しさ (tanoshisa). Here are a few more examples to make it clear.

Plain Form Romaji Meaning sa Form Romaji Meaning
楽しい tanoshii enjoyable 楽しさ tanoshisa joy
美しい utsukushii beautiful 美しさ utsukushisa beauty
新しい atarashii new 新しさ atarashisa newness
赤い akai red 赤さ akasa redness
大きい ookii big 大きさ ookisa size, dimensions

Example sentences:

日本のお寺の美しさが好きです。

nihon no otera no utsukushisa ga suki desu.

I like the beauty of Japanese temples.

Related articles:

Kanji Card – 館

館

9928 - 館

Meaning: big hall, building

Onyomi: KAN

Kunyomi: –

Strokes: 16 (click on the pic to start the video)

Vocabulary:

本館 – honkan – main building

別館 – bekkan – side building

旅館 – ryokan – Japanese style hotel