Translation guide
This guide covers how to express feeling depressed in Japanese, from clinical depression to everyday sadness and low mood.
To describe a medically significant state of depression, often long-term and requiring treatment.
The standard term for clinical depression. Used in medical and everyday contexts.
He was diagnosed with depression.
Refers to a depressive state, often used in medical or psychological contexts.
She has been in a depressive state for a while.
To express a temporary low mood, sadness, or feeling blue.
The most common verb for feeling down or depressed. Intransitive.
I'm feeling down because I failed the exam.
Literally 'mood falls', a common way to say one feels depressed.
I feel depressed on rainy days.
A noun or na-adjective meaning melancholy or gloom. Slightly literary.
Literally 'to sink', used metaphorically for feeling depressed. Often in the form 気持ちが沈む.
To express a heavy, gloomy emotional state, often with a nuance of lingering sadness.
To describe a state of low energy or apathy often associated with depression.
To refer to an economic downturn or recession.
Saying '私は落ち込んでいる' is grammatically correct but can sound unnatural because Japanese often omits the subject. Instead, use '落ち込んでいる' or '気分が落ち込んでいる'.
I'm depressed.
落ち込む is the everyday word for feeling down, while 憂鬱 implies a deeper, more lingering gloom and is often used in written or formal contexts.
憂鬱な気分だ。
I'm in a gloomy mood.
His words made me feel depressed.
無気力な状態が続いている。
I've been in a state of apathy.
世界恐慌は1929年に始まった。
The Great Depression began in 1929.