胸が痛い
mune ga itai
The English phrase 'my heart hurts' is translated into Japanese as 胸が痛い (mune ga itai).
胸が痛い is used to describe both emotional heartache and physical pain in the chest.
What does it mean word for word?
The phrase consists of 胸 (mune), which means 'chest' in this context and 痛い (itai), which means 'painful' or 'hurts'.
Which one should you use?
Using 痛む instead of the adjective 痛い makes the expression sound slightly more formal or literary.
How does it change in a sentence?
In the phrase 胸が痛い, the particle が (ga) identifies the chest (胸) as the part of the body experiencing the pain (痛い).
How do you pronounce it?
mune ga itai
Did you know?
- Japanese has a specific term, 切ない (setsunai), which describes the precise kind of 'heart-hurting' pain that comes from a mixture of sadness, longing and helplessness.
- While 胸 refers to the 'chest', Japanese rarely uses the anatomical word for 'heart', 心臓 (shinzō), to describe emotional pain. Using 心臓 would suggest a medical emergency like a heart attack rather than sadness.
- The phrase 胸が痛い can also be used to express a sense of guilt or empathy when seeing someone else's misfortune. In this sense, your 'chest hurts' because you feel bad for the person you are observing.
Examples in context
- 別れのニュースを聞いて、胸が痛い。wakare no nyuusu o kiite, mune ga itai.Hearing the news of the breakup, my heart hurts.
- 彼の言葉に、胸が痛いです。kare no kotoba ni, mune ga itai desu.His words make my heart hurt.
- その悲しい物語のせいで、胸が痛い。sono kanashii monogatari no sei de, mune ga itai.Because of that sad story, my heart hurts.
Example conversation
Yui is telling Ren about a sad movie she watched.
- 結衣 Yui結末が悲しすぎて、まだ胸が痛いよ。ketsumatsu ga kanashisugite, mada mune ga itai yo.The ending was so sad, my heart still hurts.
- 蓮 Renそんなに泣かせる映画だったんだね。sonna ni nakaseru eiga dattan da ne.It must have been a movie that makes you cry that much.
- 結衣 Yuiうん、本当に切ない話だったの。un, hontou ni setsunai hanashi datta no.Yeah, it was a really heartbreaking story.
- 蓮 Ren気分転換に、何か甘いものでも食べようか。kibun tenkan ni, nanika amai mono demo tabeyou ka.Shall we eat something sweet to cheer you up?
