hot/cold (feeling) vs. hot/cold (object)

Discussion in 'All Languages' started by Gavril, Feb 13, 2014.

  1. Gavril Senior Member

    English, USA
    In your language, do you use the same elements to translate "hot" or "cold" when saying "It is a hot/cold day today" versus "I feel hot/cold"?

    In some languages, there's an asymmetry between these two expressions: e.g., Slovene mrzel means "cold", but "I am cold" is zebe me, which consists of the verb zebe (conjugated in the 3sg.) plus the object pronoun me. However, Slovene has symmetrical expressions for talking about heat: vroč "hot", mi je vroče "I am hot" (literally "it is hot for me").
  2. Awwal12 Senior Member

    Moscow, the RF
    In Russian - basically, yes. Of course, in the second case it will be adverbs, not adjectives, but they have exactly the same roots.

    Э́то жáркий/холóдный день (éto zhárkiy/kholódnyi den') ['ɛt̪ə 'ʐarkʲɪj/xɐ'lˠod̪nᵻj d̪ᶻʲenʲ]
    Мне жáрко/хóлодно (mnie zharko/kholodno) [mnʲe 'ʐarkə/'xolˠəd̪nə], lit. "(to) me (it is) hotly/coldly"
  3. Awwal12 Senior Member

    Moscow, the RF
    Additional expressions for "I am cold" in Russian include я мёрзну (ya myórznu) [jæ 'mʲorznʊ] and я зя́бну (ya zyábnu) [jæ 'zæbnʊ]. And the related adjectives мёрзлый (myórzlyi) ['mʲorzlˠᵻj] and зя́бкий (zyábkiy) ['zæbkʲɪj] aren't used to describe weather; the first, in fact, means "frozen", and the second means "chilly" (about somebody).
    Last edited: Feb 13, 2014
  4. apmoy70

    apmoy70 Senior Member

    In Greek it's a bit complicated:

    The noun (warmth, heat) in MG is «ζέστη» ['zesti] (fem.) which is a Byzantine fem. noun «ζέστη» zéstē (also «ζέστα» zéstā) deriving from the (mostly intransitive) Classical verb «ζέω» zéō --> to boil, seeth (PIE *ies-, to boil, foam cf Skt येषति (yeSati), to boil up, bubble; Alb. ziej, to simmer, boil).
    In Classical Greek, the noun was «θερμότης» tʰĕrmótēs (fem.) --> warmth, heat (also «θέρμη» tʰérmē, metaph. passion, zeal) which produced the adj. «θερμός, -ὴ, -όν» tʰĕrmós (masc.), tʰĕrmḕ (fem.), tʰĕrmón (neut.) --> warm (PIE *gʷʰer-mo-, warm cf Arm. ջերմ (ǰerm), warm; Lat. formus, warm > Fr. four, Sp. horno, oven, furnace; Alb. zjarm, heat; Proto-Germanic *warmaz > Ger./Dt./Eng. warm; Nor./D./Swe. varm, Isl. varmur; Rus. горн, fireplace, hearth).
    To feel hot: Ιn MG is «ζεσταίνομαι» [ze'stenome] which is the mediopassive voice of the active v. «ζεσταίνω» [ze'steno] --> to warm, heat, heat up. Both voices are inhereted from Byzantine Greek.
    The verb in the ancient language was «θερμαίνω» tʰĕrmaínō --> (active voice) to warm, heat, heat up, «θερμαίνομαι» tʰĕrmaínŏmai --> (passive voice) to be heated, feel the sensation of heat.

    Cold (noun): «Κρύο» ['kri.o] in MG, a neuter noun deriving from the Classical 3rd declension neuter noun «κρύος» krúŏs --> icy cold, frost (with obscure etymology). The verb is the ambitransitive «κρυώνω» [kri'ono] in the modern language --> intransitive: to feel the sensation of cold, cool down; transitive: to make cold. The adj. is «κρύος, -α, -ο» ['kri.os] (masc.), ['kri.a] (fem.), ['kri.o] (neut.).
    In Classical Gr. the verb in the active voice was «κρυμαίνω» krŭmaínō --> to make cold, while the verb in the passive was «κρυόομαι/κρυοῦμαι» krŭóŏmai (uncontracted)/ krŭoûmai (contracted) --> to be cold, feel the sensation of cold. The adj. was «κρυόεις,
    -εσσα, -εν» krŭóeis
    (masc.), krŭóĕssā (fem.), krŭóĕn (neut).

    I warned you ;)
  5. learnerr Senior Member

    It's hard to call them adverbs, though, because they do not detail the meaning of any verb, they convey all meaning by themselves and are predicates of the clause, instead. As far as I know, such words are called words of condition by some.

    P.S.: горн is a Russian for furnace, not for hearth, which is очаг.
    Last edited: Feb 13, 2014
  6. arielipi Senior Member

    In hebrew yes, although we would prefer to say i feel sick over hot/cold.
  7. Gavril Senior Member

    English, USA
    But what if you just feel hot or cold because of the surrounding temperature (not because you're sick) -- does that make a difference in which terms are used?
  8. arielipi Senior Member

    it doesnt make a difference because hebrew is free in words placement in a sentence, so basically its a convention which is used when.

    "hot i feel" would mean that the temperature around is hot.
    "i feel hot" means i feel im hot.

    in any case, one can use either construct, with some other synonyms and it'll pass the desired meaning.
  9. Encolpius

    Encolpius Senior Member

    No, we do not use the same elements for cold, but we do for hot.

    It is hot / cold. = Meleg van. / Hideg van.
    I feel hot / cold. = Melegem van. / Fázom.
  10. SuperXW

    SuperXW Senior Member

    In Chinese, yes. We use the same adjectives.
    For example, you feel "cold" because you are ill, even though the weather is "hot".
  11. mataripis

    mataripis Senior Member

    In Tagalog (southern Tagalog), Hot/cold feelings = Binabanas/giniginaw with root words Banas/ginaw respectively. The other case of hot/cold is Mainit/Malamig with root words Init/Lamig.
  12. zhuzep New Member

    In Catalan we use the same nouns, but the verbs change:

    fa calor / fa fred = (on weather) It's hot / cold (literally "It makes x")

    tinc calor / tinc fred = I feel hot / cold (literally "I have x")

  13. ThomasK Senior Member

    (near) Kortrijk, Belgium
    Belgium, Dutch
    In Dutch we say: 'Het is koud' vs. 'Ik heb het koud' (with 'have' and an empty pronoun 'het' [it]), so somehow parallel with Catalan, I now notice... (If one were 'Ik ben warm/ heet [which is realy hot]' , then we would be referring to the soul/heart, I'd say, and then mean that we have a warm heart, are warm-hearted, or even ready for ..., y'know)
  14. Nino83 Senior Member

    In Italian we change the verb (as in Catalan)
    "It is a hot/cold day today" = Oggi è un giorno caldo/freddo (or oggi fa caldo/freddo) (is in the first case, makes in the second)
    "I feel
    hot/cold" = Ho/sento​ caldo/freddo (have/feel)

    Last edited: May 12, 2014
  15. Radioh

    Radioh Senior Member

    Hi. In Vietnamese, we use hot/cold for both feeling and object.
    Trời nóng/lạnh nên tôi thấy nóng = It's hot/cold, so I feel hot/cold
    we also use hot to refer to anger.
    Tôi nóng rồi nha (I'm hot) = I'm angry
  16. iobyo Senior Member

    Bitola, Macedonia
    Macedonian uses an impersonal verb: студи (used in 3P sg.); thus, студи means 'it's cold', ми студи means 'I'm cold', etc. Unlikely Slovene (?), one can say ладно ми е (i.e. with the adverb ладно 'cold') in Macedonian. There's no verb which means 'be hot'.

    There's an interesting way of saying "I'm/it's cold" in BCS: zima je ('it's cold'; lit. 'it's winter'), zima mi je ('I'm cold'; lit. 'it's winter to me'), etc., which can be said at any time of the year.
  17. bibax Senior Member


    it is ... - I am ... :

    je horko - je mi horko (horký = hot), unpleasant feeling;
    je teplo - je mi teplo (teplý = warm), mostly pleasant feeling;

    Generally horký represents a higher temperature than teplý (it's very relative, of course).

    je chladno - je mi chladno (chladný = cold, cool);
    je zima - je mi zima (zima = 1. winter, 2. coldness);

    je (< jest) = (it) is;
    mi (ti, nám, vám, etc.) = personal pronoun in dative (to me, to thee, to us, to you, etc.);

    The verbs mrznouti, zábsti are used when the temperature is under freezing point.
  18. ilocas2 Senior Member

    In Czech:

    Je zima

    Je mi zima

    The BCS word order is also possible in some circumstances.
  19. berndf Moderator

    German (Germany)
    In German you say:
    It is hot/cold = Es ist heiß/kalt (same construct as in English)
    I am/feel hot/cold = Mir ist heiß/kalt (literally: With respect to me, [it] is hot/cold).
  20. Sempervirens Senior Member


    Ciao! Riguardo a caldo, e se la situazione lo richiede, il sottoscritto usa anche queste espressioni: sentirsi accaldato/essere accaldato (espressioni che hanno poco a che vedere con essere incalorito...)

    Per capire meglio di che cosa si tratta ti rimando a questo collegamento:

  21. 810senior

    810senior Senior Member

    In Japanese:

    hot:暑いatsui　cold:寒いsamui
    *it's hot today (今日は暑いですね kyou wa atsui desune)

    (feeling on object)
    hot:熱いatsui, cold:冷たいtsumetai
    *your hand feels cold (手が冷たいですね te ga tsumetai desune)
  22. kloie Senior Member

    houston tx
    american english from texas
    I'm cold-hladno mi je
    I'm hot-Vruće mi je
  23. Armas Senior Member


    kylmä päivä = cold day
    kuuma päivä = hot day
    minulla on kylmä = at me is cold
    minulla on kuuma = at me is hot

    minulla on vilu = at me is cold
    palelen = I am cold
    minua paleltaa, same as above but the verb is impersonal

    Vilu (cold or sensation of cold) and the verbs palella, paleltaa can't be used when speaking of temperature.
  24. Gavril Senior Member

    English, USA
    The above translations are word-for-word, but the whole sentences are normally translated as

    "I am cold / I feel cold" (Minulla on kylmä and Minulla on vilu)
    "I am hot / I feel hot" (Minulla on kuuma)

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