重い
おもい
i-adjective
heavy
See also:
重たい (colloquial variant)
Conjugation
| Affirmative | Negative | |
|---|---|---|
| Present | 重い | 重くない |
| Past | 重かった | 重くなかった |
| て form | 重くて | 重くなくて |
| Adverbial | 重く | — |
| Conditional ば | 重ければ | 重くなければ |
| Conditional たら | 重かったら | 重くなかったら |
1.
heavy (in weight)
Having great weight, difficult to lift or carry. The opposite of 軽い (light).
2.
serious, severe
Can describe something serious or severe, like a serious illness or heavy responsibility.
Usage
- Weight (sense 1): used both as a modifier — 重い荷物 — and as a predicate with が. When the subject is a body part, it describes a leaden, sluggish feeling rather than actual weight: 足が重い means the legs feel tired, not that they weigh a lot.
- Serious, severe (sense 2): this sense goes with nouns naming an illness, an injury, a penalty, or a burden — 病気, 怪我, 罰, 責任. It does not extend to problems or situations in general. A serious problem is 重大な問題 or 深刻な問題, never 重い問題.
Forms
- Adverbial: 重く; te-form: 重くて
- Two nouns are derived from it and they are not interchangeable: 重さ is weight as a measurable quantity, while 重み is figurative weight — the gravity or authority that 言葉 or a decision carries.
Common collocations
- 重い病気: serious illness
- 重い罰: severe punishment
- 空気が重い: tense atmosphere
- 口が重い: tight-lipped, slow to speak up
- 腰が重い: slow to get moving on something
- 気が重い: reluctant, dreading what is ahead
Similar words
- 重たい is the colloquial variant and is more subjective: it reports how heavy something feels to the speaker, where 重い states the fact. It is not used for the severity sense.
- 重大 and 深刻 are the na-adjectives that cover serious matters and situations. 重大 stresses importance and consequences; 深刻 stresses how bad and how worrying things have become.
軽い (light) is the antonym for both senses: 軽い病気 is a mild illness.
Related Words
Antonym:
軽い (light (weight))
Related:
気が重い (reluctant, heavy-hearted)
Compare:
ヘビー (heavy)