When your important friend or lover is down, the best way to support them is to say “I feel you.”
Everyone appreciates it when someone says “I feel you” when they are in a hard situation.
We’ll share about how to say “I feel you” in Japanese for your Japanese friend or lover in this article!
How to say I feel you in Japanese.
～の気持ちよくわかるよ (~no kimochi yoku wakaruyo)
When you want to say “I feel you,” you say “(friend name)の気持ちよくわかるよ。”
You use “わかる (wakaru)” for the verb. わかる (wakaru) literally means to know or to understand. よ(yo) is a particle that adds conviction (like you’re trying to convince someone of something) to your sentence.
～の気持ち (~no kimochi) means someone’s feeling and よく (yoku) means well or much. So, ～の気持ちよくわかるよ (~ no kimochi yoku wakaruyo) literally means "I can understand your feelings well". But you can also say this phrase as “I feel you.”
This is the casual form of “(friend name)の気持ちよくわかるよ。” This sounds most natural when speaking. However, it is not grammatically correct, so if you want to say it with correct grammar, you would say:
①“(friend name)の気持ちがよくわかるよ。”
②“(friend name)の気持ちはよくわかるよ。”
The difference between these sentences is the first one has the が particle and the second has は. The difference in meaning is that the sentence with は is followed by a contradiction.
So, for example, here is a situation where a shop staff got the wrong dish for your friend Kenta in restaurant and didn’t apologize to him. Kenta is super angry.
①けんたの気持ちがよくわかるよ。あのスタッフの態度はいけないね。
I feel you, Kenta. That shop staff shouldn’t have responded that way.
↑ You are 100% on your friend’s side.
②けんたの気持ちはよくわかるよ。でもスタッフに悪口をいっちゃいけないね。
I feel you, Kenta. But you shouldn’t have said mean things to the shop staff.
↑ You are on your friend’s side but you are thinking your friend should not have said bad things to the shop staff.
Some phrases you can say along with “I feel you”.
It’s good just to say “I feel you.” But if you want to tell that you care about your friends or lover more, you can say 大変だったね (taihendatta-ne) or 辛かったね (tsurakatta-ne) along with “I feel you.”
大変だったね (taihendatta-ne)
大変だったね (taihendatta-ne) means “that must have been hard for you.” 大変 (taihen) is an noun meaning “hard” or “terrible.” だった (datta) is the past form of だ(da). ね(ne) is an ending particle that signifies agreement.
When you say 大変だったね, it means you are understanding that something terrible had happened for your friend or lover.
辛かったね (tsurakatta-ne)
辛かったね (tsurakatta-ne) also means “that must have been painful for you” but it sounds more like you are empathizing with your friend’s feelings rather than the situation.
辛かった (tsurakatta) is the past form of 辛い (tsurai) which means hard or painful.
A friend in need is a friend indeed.
Recently we’ve heard lots of sad news around the coronavirus, discrimination, and other hard situations. These affect our lives, and there might be some people around you who are feeling sad and are having a hard time now.
With these phrases, you can definitely show your support for these people!