Translation guide
This guide covers how to express that a place is crowded with people in Japanese, from common adjectives to descriptive phrases.
To say a place is crowded or full of people in a general sense.
The most common and neutral way to say a place is crowded. Used for trains, streets, stores, etc.
The station was very crowded.
This shop is always crowded.
Literally 'full of people', a very common and natural phrase.
The park was crowded with people.
A slightly more formal term for congestion or crowding, often used in announcements or written descriptions.
The roads are congested.
Implies a lively, bustling crowd, often with a positive connotation. Used for festivals, shopping streets, etc.
The town is bustling with people at the festival.
To emphasize that a place is so crowded that people are packed together, like on a rush-hour train.
Means 'full capacity' or 'packed', often used for trains, buses, elevators. 満員電車 is a common term for a packed train.
The train was packed with people.
An onomatopoeic word describing a tightly packed, squeezed state. Very colloquial.
Literally 'packed like sushi', meaning extremely crowded with no space to move. Vivid and slightly humorous.
To describe a place so crowded that people seem to spill out or overflow.
混んでいる is the everyday word for 'crowded'. 混雑している is more formal and often used in traffic reports or official announcements. For casual conversation, stick with 混んでいる.
Do not directly translate 'be crowded with people' as 人で混んでいる (though it's understandable). The natural pattern is simply 混んでいる or 人でいっぱいだ. Using 人で混んでいる is not wrong but can sound slightly redundant.
It's tough to ride a packed train.
バスがぎゅうぎゅうで動けなかった。
The bus was so packed I couldn't move.
会場はすし詰め状態だった。
The venue was packed like sardines.