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I found three ways to say "If I'm too exposed to the sun, I get a headache". Can you confirm that these three sentences are right? And if there are some nuances between them?

  • 太陽を浴びすぎると頭が痛くなります。
  • 太陽に当たりすぎると頭が痛くなります。
  • 太陽を受けすぎると頭が痛くなります。

2 Answers 2

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First and second way looks fine but third one seems to be a bit weird for me.

As a Japanese perspective, there's no different between them, it's just another way to say that.

It could be improved though, since original sentence has "I", so: "私は太陽の光を浴びすぎると頭が痛くなります" for formal way, or

"(insert your favorite first-person word like 僕 or 私 or 俺)、太陽を浴びすぎると頭が痛くなるんだよね" for more casual way.

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  • Thank you for the reply, I think I understand that the two first verb seems to mean something like "to lie in front of" or " to take a bath of", but can you elaborate a bit the difference between 浴びる, 当たる and 受ける (in this context because it seems that these verbs have a lot of different usages). Thank you
    – Poulp
    Jun 18, 2021 at 8:18
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    浴びる is commonly used when someone takes shower : "シャワーを浴びる" so yeah it's almost same as "to take a bath of". I think it's used when you're sunbathing;日光浴. 当たる is like when you got hit by something, in this case sunlight, I think "日に当たる" can be translated to "be exposed to sun(light)". Most of case when we use 受ける as taking sunlight, it's something that isn't oneself but plants or something, like "ヒマワリ(sunflower)が日を受けている". It's hard to tell the difference between 浴びる and 当たる, but I believe 浴びる is milder than 当たる. e.g. sunbathing VS taking the sunlight when it's summer.
    – Skye-AT
    Jun 18, 2021 at 10:34
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The first two are fine, but the third sounds slightly awkward to me. The verb 受ける goes better with 日光 or 直射日光 than 太陽. Although 太陽を受ける is used with the same meaning as (直射) 日光を受ける, it takes on a slight poetic sound when used for a person. It brings an image of someone facing the sun with their arms wide open.

Both 日光 and 直射日光 would work fine with the first two sentences, as well. There is also 太陽光, but it sounds more scientific than 日光 or 直射日光.

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