How to Say “There was a lot of traffic.” in Japanese

by Tomoyuki Higuchi

How do you say “There was a lot of traffic.” in Japanese?

Today’s phrase is :

There was a lot of traffic.

渋滞してた。

　juutai* shiteta

If you want to speak politely, you can say :

渋滞してました。

　juutai* shitemashita

*We pronounce “juutai” like “jūtai”.

How to Say “There’s a lot of traffic.” in Japanese

There was …　＝　… があった　… ga atta
a lot of traffic　＝　渋滞　juutai

The literal translation of “There was a lot of traffic.” is “渋滞があった juutaiga atta”, but that sounds unnatural. It sounds more natural to say “渋滞してた” or “渋滞してました”.