Using Cold and Hot in Japanese

寒さむい and 冷つめたい

Japanese differentiates between coldness in general (the weather or how you feel) and coldness when touched or interacted with (objects). The same is true with hot (see below).

For example, you would say:

今日きょうは寒さむいですね。
kyou wa samui desu ne.
today is cold isn’t it?

However, you would use a different word for the following even though in English both would be “cold.”

氷は冷つめたいです。
koori wa tsumetai desu.
Ice is cold (to the touch).

In general, if the weather is cold OR you are cold (your body), use 寒い. For objects that are touchable, use 冷たい.

One interesting fact is the weather in general is 寒さむい samui, but the wind and rain is 冷つめたい tsumetai.

寒さむいです！
samui desu!
It’s cold!

はい、風かぜが冷つめたいです。
hai, kaze ga tsumetai desu.
Yes, the wind is cold.

Using 暑あつい and 熱あつい

“Hot” follows the same concept. Hot weather (or you are hot) uses 暑い and hot to the touch objects uses 熱い. Note, unlike “cold,” Japanese uses the same sounding word for the two concepts. When written as kanji, however, they are different.

今日きょうは暑あついですね。
kyou wa atsui desu ne.
today is hot isn’t it?

And…

お皿さらが熱
あついので、気きをつけてください。
osara ga atsui node, ki o tsukete kudasai.
The plate is hot so please be careful.