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- "This room is small."
"This room is small."
Translation:この部屋は狭いです。
36 Comments
It's not about what you think is appropriate when you translate it into English. It's about what's appropriate when you speak Japanese. せまい and ひろい don't just translate in "narrow" and "wide." It's closer to the idea of being "narrow" or "tight" and "wide" or "spacious" referring to an area. Therefore, when referring to the size of a room, you would use せまい or ひろい. When referring to the size of a particular object, then you would then use 小さい or 大き.
559
室 is not used by itself, but it means room in conjunction with other kanji. 教室 きょうしつ for example is classroom. 職員室 しょくいんしつ means staff room.
392
Would one still use semai if the room in question is not narrow but is small? Can you not use chisai to describe a small room?
559
You could use 小さい to describe a room in a dollhouse, but for a room that you are physically occupying, it's 狭い.
狭い is the correct word for something describing space, as opposed to size.
There is a delightful idiom, "neko no hitai" – 猫の額 - a cat's forehead - for something very small. Or as a Japanese acquaintance used to say "cat's foreheads are very narrow". The idiom is a pun between the kanji and the sound vs that of 狭い.
287
I used お部屋 instead of 部屋 and it was incorrect, so do we use the honorific only when directky talking to someone or is there more to it?
525
So, if I had a cardboard box, would I use 小さい to describe the size of it, like discussing how easy it would be to carry, and 狭い to describe the inside of it, like talking about how much it can hold?
559
No, I think that's 小さい in both cases. 狭い is more for a space that you are occupying. "Cramped" is a good English equivalent. So if the box was larger and you were inside it in a fetal position, then 狭い would be suitable.