KGYSAK: hot and cold

A non-internet request is happily filled. On occasion, I must admit, I flip the correct usage of hot and cold. It's just a knee-jerk reaction from time to time. I used to get really frustrated with talking about heat until I was humbled by the sheer number of verbs for "to wear". I then stopped jinxing my luck.

Cold
춥다 condition of being cold
차갑다 cold to the touch

When you're outside and it's chilly, it's 추워요. If it's around you, it's this type of cold.
When you dip your toe into the pool and it's nippy, it's 차가워요. If you touched it, it's this type of cold.

Hot
덥다 condition of being hot
뜨겁다 hot to the touch

When you're standing outside waiting for the bus in the summer, it's 더워요. If you're sweating, it's this type of heat.
When you take a sip of your morning coffee and discover that it's burning a hole in your mouth, it's 뜨거워요. If you touched it, it's this type of heat.
*Also, when you've had your fill of 청량고추 and want to call it a day because you think you have discovered an ulcer in your stomach, it's 매워요. If it's spicy, it's this type of heat.


Hope that clears it up. Just in case one starts to think that only Korean is unnecessarily confusing, consider in English the multiple uses of "china" (the country, dishes), "story" (book, building floor, lie), and "butt" (fanny, bottom of a gun, to interfere).