ひどい
hidoi
The Japanese word for "terrible" is ひどい (hidoi).
ひどい is used to describe something as very bad, awful or severe. It is versatile enough to describe both moral badness, such as a terrible person and physical intensity, such as terrible weather or a severe headache.
Meaning: very bad (adj)
How does it change in a sentence?
In its dictionary form, ひどい functions as the present tense "is terrible". To express the past tense "was terrible", use ひどかった. You can also create an adverb meaning "terribly" or "severely" by changing the final い to く, resulting in ひどく.
How do you pronounce it?
hidoi
Did you know?
- The transition from the kanji combination for 'inhuman' to the phonetic ひどい shows how a philosophical concept of 'evil' became a common everyday adjective for 'bad'.
- In certain casual contexts, saying ひどい! can be a playful way to tell a friend 'That is so mean!' after a joke.
- While English speakers use 'terribly' as an adverb to mean 'very' (e.g., 'terribly sorry'), doing so with ひどく in Japanese would sound much more literal and harsh.
Examples in context
- ひどい天気！What terrible weather!This sentence is useful for expressing an exclamation about ひどい weather.Tatoeba #2456862 by tommy_san, translation #9182109 by megamanenm
- ひどい日だった。It was a terrible day.This sentence is useful for describing a day that ひどい.Tatoeba #441956 by bunbuku, translation #441955 by CK
- それはひどいな。That's terrible.This sentence is useful for stating that something is ひどい.Tatoeba #1270752 by bunbuku, translation #42652 by CK
- Kono resutoran no ryōri wa hontōni warui desu. (このレストランの料理は本当に悪いです。)The food at this restaurant is really terrible.
- Ano eiga wa yabai yo! (あの映画はやばいよ！)That movie is terrible!
- 24 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Two friends are talking about a movie they watched.
- 大翔 Hirotoあの映画、すごくひどかったね。Ano eiga, sugoku hidokatta ne.That movie was really terrible, wasn't it?
- 陽葵 Himari本当に。時間の無駄だった。Hontou ni. Jikan no muda datta.Truly. It was a waste of time.
- 大翔 Hirotoひどい結末だったよ。Hidoi ketsumatsu datta yo.It was a terrible ending.
- 陽葵 Himariそうだね。がっかりした。Sou da ne. Gakkari shita.You're right. I was disappointed.
Sources
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
