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Let’s learn Japanese with Reina Kousaka’s quote from Sound! Euphonium (Hibike! Yūfoniamu, 響け！ユーフォニアム).

Video

Reina Kousaka’s Quote

Japanese: 悔しい…悔しくって死にそう
Romaji: kuyashii…kuyashikutte shinisō
English: I’m upset…I’m so upset I could die

Analysis

悔しい

悔しい is an i-adjective used to express a mixture of anger, disappointment and bitter resentment caused by defeat, humiliation or frustration. There is no good English translation for くやしい but it could be “upset”, “mad”, “annoyed”, “frustrated“, and so on.

In this scene, she couldn’t make it to the nationals which is something unacceptable for her, and therefore she is very upset.

悔しくって死にそう

It consists of the te-form of an i-adjective and the stem of a verb masu-form followed by auxiliary verb そう meaning “so (adjective) that I could do something” or “so (adjective) that I’m about to do something”.

Let’s go into the details. 悔しくって is the same as 悔しくて which is the te-form of the i-adjective 悔しい. So when you want to make the te-form of an i-adjective, just replace the い with くて. And the small つ represents the doubling of the following consonant (kuyashikutte) which adds slight emphasis to the statement.

And the te-form is used to express a cause of the following effect which is 死にそう.

死に is the stem of the verb 死にます meaning “to die” and そう is the auxiliary verb used when you think you are going to do something, usually without wanting to do it, based on the way you feel.

So 悔しくって死にそう means “I’m so upset I could die”.

Examples

悔しい (expresses a mixture of anger, disappointment and bitter resentment)

試合しあいに負まけて悔くやしい！

shiai ni makete kuyashii!

I’m frustrated that I lost the game.

去年きょねん、試験しけんに落おちてとても悔くやしかった。

kyonen, shiken ni ochite totemo kuyashikatta.

I was mad at myself that I failed the exam last year.

学校がっこうでいじめられて、悔くやしい。 

gakkō de ijimerarete, kuyashii.

I resent being bullied in school

Adj Te-Form + Verb Stem + そう (so + “adj” + that I could …)

嬉うれしくて倒たおれそう。

ureshikute taore sō.

I’m so happy that I’m about to collapse.

音楽おんがくがうるさくて、頭あたまが割われそう！

ongaku ga urusakute, atama ga ware sō!

The music is so loud that my head could split!

ゴールが遠とおくてくじけそう。

gōru ga tōkute kujike sō.

The goal is so far that I feel discouraged.

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