- karai spicy, hot; salty; harsh (criticism), severe (punishment), strict; painful, bitter, difficult, tough
- tsurai painful, bitter, heart-breaking, difficult (emotionally); tough, difficult, hard (usu. of situations); cruel, harsh, cold
- zurai difficult to ..., hard to ...
Used for spicy-hot food or harsh words; as 'salty' only in set phrases like 辛い思いをする.
このカレーはとても辛いです。
Kono karē wa totemo karai desu.
This curry is very spicy.
辛い物が苦手なんです。
Karai mono ga nigate nan desu.
I'm not good with spicy food.
⚖️ Often confused with 鹹い (shio-karai), which means salty; 辛い primarily means spicy-hot.
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💡 Drop い to get the stem: add くない (negative), かった (past), くて (te-form).
Found in a wide range of contexts. Useful for building reading and listening fluency.
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