Nigate is the Japanese word for ‘weak point’, explained in detail

What does “nigate” mean in Japanese?

Japanese people often say “nigate” to mean ‘weak point’ in Japanese, but its usage is not limited to this particular purpose. In this blog post, therefore, I will explain this word in detail based on its kanji expression. And also, I will explain how to use it through example sentences. Let’s get started!

Contents

• Definition and meanings of “nigate”
• “Nigate” in kanji
• Example #1: how to say “weak point” in Japanese
• Example #2: how to say “I’m bad at Japanese” in Japanese
• Summary

Definition and meanings of “nigate”

Let me start with the definition and meanings of “nigate”.

• nigate – 苦手 (にがて) : a noun meaning ‘weak point’ in Japanese. This word can also work as a plural noun meaning ‘weak points’. Learn more about Japanese plural. Grammatically it is a noun, but can also work like an adjective meaning ‘bad at’, ‘poor at’, ‘not good at’, or ‘weak in’.

In Japanese, the border between nouns and adjectives called na-adjectives is very ambiguous. Basically every na-adjective consists of one noun and one conjugative suffix. And Japanese people often omit the suffix. For these reasons, Japanese people often use nouns as shortened versions of na-adjectives. “Nigate” is one of them. Grammatically it is a noun, but can also work as the shortened version of the na-adjective, “nigatena”, which means ‘bad at’ or such.

I’ve explained the very basics of “nigate”. To understand this word more clearly, however, let me explain its kanji characters in detail, one by one.

“Nigate” in kanji

Below are the kanji characters used in “nigate”.

• 苦 : a kanji character used to mean ‘pain’, ‘suffering’, ‘trouble’, ‘anxiety’, or ‘difficulty’ in Japanese.
• 手 : a kanji character widely used to mean ‘hand‘ in Japanese. This kanji can also be found in other words like “jouzu“.

From these two kanji characters, we can understand that the concept of “nigate” is ‘suffering from doing something with hands’. This kanji concept is not completely in line with the meanings, but not so far away, I think.

When we meet new kanji expressions, we should check their kanji characters in detail to understand their meanings clearly and deeply. In many cases, kanji characters tell us a lot about meanings of words they form. Actually, here, we could get the better understanding of “nigate” through the detailed kanji check above.

Then, let me explain how to use “nigate” through the example sentences below.

Example #1: how to use “nigate”

Below are the new words used in the example sentence.

• watashi – 私 (わたし) : a pronoun meaning ‘I’ in Japanese.
• wa – は : a binding particle working as a case marker or topic marker. In the example, it is put after “watashi” to make the subject word in the sentence.
• wo – を : a case particle used to make the object word in a sentence. In the example, it is put after “nigate” to make the object word in the sentence. It is written as “wo”, but its actual pronunciation is “o”.
• kokufuku shi – 克服し (こくふくし) : one conjugation of the verb, “kokufuku suru”, which means ‘to overcome’ in Japanese. In the example, it has been conjugated for the better connection with its following word.
• ta – た : an auxiliary verb used after a verb, adjective, or auxiliary verb to make its past tense form. Probably it is well known as a part of Japanese ta form. In the example, it is put after the conjugated verb, “kokufuku shi”, to make its past tense form.

This is a typical usage of “nigate”. In this example, it works as a noun to mean ‘weak point’ in Japanese.

Japanese people often say “nigate wo kokufuku suru” to mean ‘to overcome a weak point’ in Japanese. It is a kind of idiomatic expression, so worth knowing.

Example #2: how to say “I’m bad at Japanese” in Japanese

Below are the new words used in the example sentence.

• nihongo – 日本語 (にほんご) : a noun meaning ‘Japanese’ or ‘the Japanese language’ in Japanese.
• ga – が : a case particle used to make the subject word or the object word in a sentence. In the example, it is put after “nihongo” to make the object word in the sentence.
• desu – です : an auxiliary verb put after a noun or adjective to make it polite. Probably it is well known as a part of Japanese desu form. In the example, it is put after “nigate” to make it sound polite.

This is another typical usage of “nigate”. In this example, it works more like an adjective meaning ‘bad at’. When we want to say ‘bad at’ in Japanese, it would be a good option.

Summary

In this blog post, I’ve explained “nigate” in detail based on its kanji expression. And also, I’ve explained how to use it through the example sentences. Let me summarize them as follows.

• nigate – 苦手 (にがて) : a noun meaning ‘weak point’ in Japanese. This word can also work as a plural noun meaning ‘weak points’. Grammatically it is a noun, but can also work like an adjective meaning ‘bad at’, ‘poor at’, ‘not good at’, or ‘weak in’.

Hope my explanations are understandable and helpful for Japanese learners.