Here in Portland, we’ve just gone through a pretty heavy winter storm recently. Hope everyone is doing well in this winter season. The cold snowy weather prompted me to this topic: what to say when you are not feeling well in Japanese. I sure hope that you won’t have to use this too often, but just in case, these are the expressions that you can use when you are under the weather.

～が痛いです。(~ga itai.)

いたい、痛いmeans it hurts. In English, we have vocabularies, such as stomachache, headache, and so on. In Japanese, we also have those expressions, but let me introduce you to simpler expressions first.

Also, by adding the word, “desu(です)”, it will sound more polite; however, it is not necessary to add it all the time.  It will depend on who you are talking to….

One thing to note here is that you don’t have to add “watashino(わたしの)” at the beginning of the sentence, like when we speak in English, such as “My” ear hurts. We often omit the subject while we speak in Japanese. It sounds more natural that way.

Here are the examples:

Now you got the idea…this is a good opportunity to learn some body parts in Japanese.

あたま＝(atama)head
め＝(me)eyes
みみ＝(mimi)ears
くち＝(kuchi)mouth
はな＝(hana)nose
のど＝(nodo)throat
かた＝(kata)shoulder
むね＝(mune)chest
うで＝(ude)arm
おなか＝(onaka)stomach
へそ＝(heso)belly botton
もも＝(momo)thigh
ひざ＝(hiza)knee
すね＝(sune)shin
あし＝(ashi)leg

Stay healthy, everyone!