Summer in Japan gives you plenty of opportunities to use Japanese in everyday life. The heat becomes an almost unavoidable topic of conversation, but summer also means festivals, fireworks, kakigōri, yukata, cicadas, and long evenings spent outdoors. If you live in Japan, you will hear people talking about all of these things, whether you are at work, chatting with a neighbor, watching the weather forecast, or making plans with friends.
You may already know basic summer words such as 夏 (なつ・natsu), “summer,” 暑い (あつい・atsui), “hot,” and 花火 (はなび・hanabi), “fireworks.” But knowing individual words is only the beginning. What makes them useful is knowing how they appear in the expressions people actually use.
Here are some Japanese expressions that can help you do more than simply survive summer in Japan—you can talk about it too.
暑いですね。
Atsui desu ne.
It’s hot, isn’t it?
If you spend summer in Japan, 暑いですね (atsui desu ne) may be one of the expressions you hear most often. Talking about the weather is an easy way to start a conversation, and when temperatures climb into the mid-30s, there is always something to talk about.
The simplest answer is そうですね (sō desu ne), “Yes, it is,” but you do not have to stop there. You could say 今日は本当に暑いですね (Kyō wa hontō ni atsui desu ne), “It’s really hot today, isn’t it?” On a particularly unpleasant day, 暑すぎますね (Atsusugimasu ne), “It’s too hot, isn’t it?” may feel even more appropriate.
You will also frequently encounter 猛暑 (もうしょ・mōsho) in weather forecasts and news reports. The word refers to intense or extreme heat, so you might hear someone say 今年は猛暑ですね (Kotoshi wa mōsho desu ne), meaning “The heat is intense this year.”
These small variations are useful because they allow you to turn the inevitable summer comment about the weather into an actual conversation rather than answering every 暑いですね with another そうですね.
暑くてだるいです。
Atsukute darui desu.
The heat is making me feel sluggish.
Sometimes summer heat is more than simply uncomfortable. After several hot and humid days, you may start to feel tired and heavy even when you have not done very much. In Japanese, だるい (darui) is commonly used to describe this sluggish, low-energy feeling.
That makes 暑くてだるいです (Atsukute darui desu) a useful expression during the hottest part of the year. You could also simply say 今日はちょっとだるいです (Kyō wa chotto darui desu), “I’m feeling a little sluggish today.”
There is also a particularly Japanese summer expression for the exhaustion that can come with prolonged hot weather: 夏バテ (なつバテ・natsubate). If someone asks 夏バテしていませんか (Natsubate shite imasen ka?), they are essentially asking whether the summer heat is wearing you out. If it is, you can answer ちょっと夏バテしています (Chotto natsubate shite imasu), “I’m feeling a little worn out from the summer heat.”
It is one of those expressions that becomes much easier to remember once you have actually experienced August in Japan.
喉が渇きました。
Nodo ga kawakimashita.
I’m thirsty.
After walking around outside in the Japanese summer, 喉が渇きました (Nodo ga kawakimashita) can become useful very quickly. In a more casual conversation, you are more likely to hear the shorter 喉渇いた！ (Nodo kawaita!), “I’m thirsty!”
During the hottest months, however, you will hear plenty of reminders not to wait until you feel thirsty. One expression that appears frequently in schools, workplaces, public announcements, and weather reports is こまめに水分補給をしてください (Komame ni suibun hokyū o shite kudasai), which means “Please hydrate regularly.”
The term 水分補給 (すいぶんほきゅう・suibun hokyū) refers to hydration or replenishing fluids, while こまめに (komame ni) adds the idea of doing something regularly and frequently. Together, they form an expression worth recognizing even if you never use it yourself.
熱中症に気をつけてください。
Netchūshō ni ki o tsukete kudasai.
Please be careful of heatstroke.
Another expression that becomes difficult to avoid during summer is 熱中症に気をつけてください (Netchūshō ni ki o tsukete kudasai). 熱中症 (ねっちゅうしょう・netchūshō) refers to heat-related illness, including heatstroke, and the word appears everywhere during periods of high temperatures.
You might hear the expression on television before leaving home, see a heatstroke warning on your phone, and then hear someone say it again later in the day. It can also be a natural thing to say when someone is about to spend a long time outside.
The useful part of the expression extends well beyond summer. 気をつけてください (ki o tsukete kudasai) means “please be careful” or “take care,” so you will encounter it in many other situations throughout the year.
エアコンをつけてもいいですか。
Eakon o tsukete mo ii desu ka?
Can I turn on the air conditioner?
Not every useful summer expression needs to come from a weather forecast. Some are much more practical.
If you are sharing a room with other people and want to turn on the air conditioner, you can ask エアコンをつけてもいいですか (Eakon o tsukete mo ii desu ka?), “Can I turn on the air conditioner?”
Depending on the situation, you may want to ask the opposite question: 窓を開けてもいいですか (Mado o akete mo ii desu ka?), “Can I open the window?”
They are simple expressions, but they are the kind of Japanese that becomes useful precisely because it is connected to something you actually need to do.
夏祭りに行きませんか。
Natsu matsuri ni ikimasen ka?
Would you like to go to a summer festival?
Fortunately, Japanese summer is about much more than high temperatures and trying to stay hydrated. It is also the season of 夏祭り (なつまつり・natsu matsuri), summer festivals, and 花火 (はなび・hanabi), fireworks.
If you want to invite someone to a festival, you can ask 夏祭りに行きませんか (Natsu matsuri ni ikimasen ka?), “Would you like to go to a summer festival?” For fireworks, 花火を見に行きませんか (Hanabi o mi ni ikimasen ka?), “Would you like to go see the fireworks?” is just as useful.
Once the plans have been made, the conversation can continue. Perhaps you want to say 浴衣を着て行きたいです (Yukata o kite ikitai desu), “I want to go wearing a yukata,” or, more importantly on a hot evening, かき氷を食べたいです (Kakigōri o tabetai desu), “I want to eat kakigōri.”
These are simple sentences, but they are much more useful than memorizing yukata, hanabi, and kakigōri as three separate vocabulary items.
花火、きれいですね。
Hanabi, kirei desu ne.
The fireworks are beautiful, aren’t they?
Once you arrive at the festival, you do not need complicated Japanese to talk about what is happening around you. While watching fireworks, 花火、きれいですね (Hanabi, kirei desu ne) is a simple and natural comment. You could use a similar expression to compliment someone’s yukata: 浴衣、きれいですね (Yukata, kirei desu ne).
Summer also has its own soundtrack. If you have spent the season in Japan, you probably know that cicadas do not exactly make a subtle entrance. 蝉の声がすごいですね (Semi no koe ga sugoi desu ne) can be used to comment on how intense the sound of the cicadas is, while 蝉が鳴いています (Semi ga naite imasu) simply means “The cicadas are chirping.”
Expressions like these may look very simple on paper, but they are useful because they allow you to react to what is happening around you rather than searching for a complicated sentence.
Go Beyond そうですね
One of the easiest ways to make your Japanese feel more conversational is to stop thinking only in terms of individual vocabulary words. If someone says 暑いですね！ (Atsui desu ne!), you certainly can answer そうですね (Sō desu ne). But that does not give the conversation very far to go.
Instead, you might respond with 本当に暑いですね (Hontō ni atsui desu ne), “It really is hot,” or 今年は特に暑いですね (Kotoshi wa toku ni atsui desu ne), “It’s especially hot this year.” If you are tired of the heat, 暑すぎますね！ (Atsusugimasu ne!) will probably communicate your feelings perfectly.
And if you would rather do something about the heat than continue talking about it, you could always say:
暑いですね。かき氷を食べに行きませんか。
Atsui desu ne. Kakigōri o tabe ni ikimasen ka?
It’s hot, isn’t it? Shall we go get some kakigōri?
Learning words such as 猛暑, 熱中症, 夏祭り, and 花火 is useful, but words become much easier to remember when you start hearing and using them as part of complete expressions. Summer gives you plenty of opportunities to do exactly that.
So, instead of trying to memorize another long list of seasonal vocabulary, listen to what people actually say around you. Pay attention to conversations, weather forecasts, announcements, and the Japanese you hear at festivals or while making plans with friends. You may find that some of the most useful expressions are also the simplest—and that they are much easier to remember when you have a real reason to use them.
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