夏至

The longest day, around the twenty-first of June — and Japan does very nearly nothing about it.

Which is strange, and worth sitting with, because you saw what happened at the other end. 冬至 in December gets a bath full of yuzu, pumpkin, and a whole small body of custom. 夏至 gets a few regional food traditions and otherwise passes unremarked.

The reason is almost certainly that it is buried in the 梅雨. You cannot see the longest day when it has been overcast for three weeks. The solstice that mattered was the one you could feel.

むmuしshiあaつtsuいi蒸し暑いsteaming-hot, humid

蒸す is *to steam*, as in cooking. 蒸し暑い is what June and July in Japan actually feel like, and it is a separate word from あつい precisely because dry heat and wet heat are not the same experience.

This will be familiar to you in a way it isn't to most learners. Manila is むしあつい nearly all year, and Japanese has a specific word for the thing you already live in.

It is an い-adjective, so it behaves like the easy group: むしあついです, むしあついひ, むしあつくない — though that last one will be a lie for the next two months.

How it fits together

い-adjectives

Adjectives ending in い behave almost like verbs — they can finish a sentence by themselves. あついです, it's hot. たかいです, it's expensive.

To put one in front of a noun, nothing changes at all: あついひ, a hot day. This is the easy group.

な-adjectives

The other group needs な before a noun. きれいなへや, a pretty room. しずかなまち, a quiet town. On its own at the end of a sentence the な disappears: このへやはきれいです.

There is no reliable way to tell which group a word is in by looking at it — きれい ends in い and is still a な-adjective. This one is memorised word by word, and it is a small tax.

〜くない · 〜くて

Negate an い-adjective by swapping い for くない. あつい → あつくない, not hot. Join two with くて: あつくてしずか, hot and quiet.

You met this in chapter fourteen without the explanation — さむくないですか, aren't you cold?

Words

あaつtsuいi暑いhot
つtsuめmeたtaいi冷たいcold to the touch
for things you touch or drink. さむい is for weather — Japanese keeps them separate.
たtaかkaいi高いexpensive, tall
きkiれreいipretty, clean
ends in い but is a な-adjective. The exception you'll meet most often.
しshiずzuかka静かquiet

Things you can say today

きょkyoうuはhaむmuしshiあaつtsuいiでdeすsuねneit's humid today, isn't it
つtsuめmeたtaいiみmiずzuをoくkuだdaさsaいicold water, pleaseadjective in front of the noun, nothing changed
しshiずzuかkaなnaへheやyaでdeすsuねneit's a quiet room, isn't itな before the noun, because しずか is the other group

Nothing to review right now.

This chapter teaches no new characters — you have them all. Anything still fading will come back round here after a day or two away.