"This room is small."
Translation:この部屋は狭いです。
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I have submitted that semai should be narrow to avoid confusion with chisai which is small
Edit: to be clear I am referring to when you click 'small' it shows chisai which is incorrect in this case
1286
When you refer to the size of a space, you use semai/hiroi, so this sentence is correct.
The sentence is correct but when you tap "small", 小さい comes up. Which is incorrect
If I heard a room was narrow I would imagine it is small in one direction but not the other. In that sense 'small' translates better what せまい means.
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.
I think Jan is making the same point you are; they're just explaining why "small" is the more appropriate translation in this context.
Would it be correct to say that せまい refers to things you can go into and 小さい to things you can't go into i.e. objects?
Semai is cramped, narrow, small for rooms, houses. Chisaii is small for other things. To say the opening of a river is narrow, you would use hosoi.
The help should use the same context as the sentence. It suggests the wrong thing often without all the alternatives. If there is a specific requirement for the language/context it should know this and not blindly suggest the default translation.
I'm sure it'll get better, they're still adding things. Until yesterday, it wasn't even giving me hints at all for English to Japanese questions!
Unclear as to why you have to use desu whereas for most い adjectives you can skip it or modify it. I must have missed something when studying い and な adjectives.
In fact, I saw that in many case duolingo agreed to both case (with or without 丁寧語) but not here.
When a sentence ends in an い-adjective, the sentence is informal and you can make it formal by adding です after it. So both are right, just different levels of formality.
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.
When should i use へや (部屋), and when should i use しつ (室) when talking about a room?
- 1286
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.
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?
- 1286
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.
- 1010
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?
It shouldn't. The adjective here describes space, not size. Calling the room small in Japanese is weird, you should call the room's space small.
I think of "semai" as cramped, and small. It's an accurate sentence and good translation. But my first thought is.... "RUDE!" Most rooms in Japan are smaller than western counter-parts. Perhaps this sentence would get a lot of use in Japan, but I think it would be insensitive to say out loud!
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?
- 1286
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.
