Question
I’m staying at a business hotel in Sapporo and the heater in my room barely works — even with the dial cranked all the way up, I was shivering under the blanket last night. I want to go down to the front desk and let them know without sounding angry. How do I say “the room is too cold” in Japanese?
Answer by Professional Japanese Teacher
部屋が寒すぎます。
Heya ga samusugimasu.
The room is too cold.
Sapporo winters can be brutal, so this is a useful one to have ready. Heya means “room” and samui means “cold” (the kind of cold you feel in the air — for objects you touch, that would be a different word, tsumetai). Adding -sugimasu to the end of samui carries the sense of “too much,” so samusugimasu lands as “too cold” rather than just “cold.”
A small tip for the front desk: pair this with sumimasen at the start to keep things gentle, and follow up with the actual request so they know what you’d like done. Something like:
すみません、部屋が寒すぎます。暖房を強くしてもらえますか。
Sumimasen, heya ga samusugimasu. Danbou o tsuyoku shite moraemasu ka.
Excuse me, the room is too cold. Could you turn the heating up?