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”.
- 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”.