すごい in Japanese – Wow! Very Amazing and Shocking!
The meaning of すごい in Japanese is closest to the word very in English. However, unlike in English すごい has a lot more situations where it shows up. Let’s take a look.
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すごい in Japanese is Very
The easiest translation for すごい is very. People use it all the time when speaking about things to give emphasis. One thing special about すごい though is even though it is an い-Adjective in Japanese, it’s adverbial form can be either すごい or すごく. It is more accurate and formal to say すごく but you can say すごい also. Kind of slang.
すごいお腹が空いている
I am very hungry
すごくお腹が空いている
I am very hungry
すごい means Amazing and Unbelievable
すごい in Japanese expresses things that are amazing. Let’s say that you have a friend John that cooks very well and you think it is amazing. You could say:
ジョンは料理がすごいよ！
John is amazing at cooking
Also if you go to a concert somewhere where a very famous person is performing you may find the number of people unbelievable:
昨日のコンサートは人数がすごかった
there were an unbelievable amount of people at the concert yesterday
Talking about Shocking Situations
すごい also describes shocking and negative situations. If you see a horrible accident for example:
ニュースですごい事故を知った
I learned of a terrible accident from the news
Wow! That’s Great!
Sometimes すごい does not really translate directly to one word. If two people are talking to each other about something unusual, surprising, interesting, or whatever すごい may be used as a response.
太郎：試験に受かった！
Taro: I passed the test!
花子：すごいね！
Hanako: Wow! That’s Great!
