Learn Hardcore Japanese: syuumatu no depaato ha totemo komimasu. - The department store is very crowded on weekends.

週末のデパート literally: “weekend’s department store(s)”
Natural English: “department stores on weekends” or “the department store on weekends”

This pattern is very common:

朝の電車 – “the train in the morning”
夜の街 – “the city at night”
夏の海 – “the sea in summer”

So 週末のデパート means “the department store as it is on the weekend,” not that the weekend owns the department store.

Could I say 週末にデパートはとても混みます instead? What’s the difference from 週末のデパートはとても混みます?

You can say 週末にデパートはとても混みます, and people will understand you. The nuance changes slightly:

週末のデパートはとても混みます。
→ Focuses on “weekend department stores” as a kind of scene.
Literally: “As for department stores on weekends, they get very crowded.”
週末にデパートはとても混みます。
→ Focuses a bit more on the time “on weekends”.
Literally: “On weekends, department stores get very crowded.”

Another very natural pattern is:

週末はデパートがとても混みます。
“On weekends, department stores get very crowded.”

So:

Xのデパート = treat “weekend department stores” as one noun phrase
Xにデパート = say “department stores (do something) at X (time)”

Why does は attach to デパート and not to 週末? Could I say 週末はデパートがとても混みます?

Yes, you can say 週末はデパートがとても混みます, and it’s very natural. The choice of は placement affects what you present as the main topic:

週末のデパートはとても混みます。
Topic: 週末のデパート (“department stores on weekends”)
→ “As for department stores on weekends, they get very crowded.”
週末はデパートがとても混みます。
Topic: 週末 (“weekends”)
→ “As for weekends, department stores get very crowded.”

Remember:

は marks a topic (what you’re talking about).
が marks a subject (what actually does/undergoes the action).

You normally don’t put は on both in one simple sentence (週末はデパートは… is odd), so you choose which you want to highlight as the topic.

Why is it 混みます and not 混んでいます? Aren’t both translated as “is crowded”?

Both can be translated as “is crowded”, but they feel different in Japanese:

混みます (from 混む)
→ “gets crowded / becomes crowded”
→ Often used for general tendencies or repeated events
- 週末のデパートはとても混みます。
  → “Department stores (tend to) get very crowded on weekends.”
混んでいます (ている form of 混む)
→ “is (currently) crowded” – describes a current ongoing state
- 今、デパートはとても混んでいます。
  → “Right now, the department store is very crowded.”

So here, we are talking about what usually happens on weekends, so 混みます (simple present) is the natural choice.

What is the dictionary form of 混みます? And what’s the difference between 混む and 込む?

The polite form in the sentence: 混みます（こみます）
Dictionary (plain) form: 混む（こむ）

Main basic forms:

混む → 混みます → 混んで（います）

About the kanji:

混む and 込む are both read こむ.
For “to get crowded / be packed (with people)”, both are commonly used in everyday writing.
In dictionaries, the sense “to be crowded” is often written 混む, but you will see 込む at least as often in real-life texts.

For learning purposes, you can treat 混む and 込む as the same verb when they mean “to get crowded”.

Who is actually “doing” the action in 混みます? Is it the department store, or the people?

Grammatically, デパート is the subject:

デパート（が）混みます。
→ “The department store gets crowded.”

The idea is:

People go there → the place becomes full of people → “the place gets crowded.”
Japanese expresses this as a change in the state of the place, not as “people crowd it”.

This is similar to English “The train gets crowded”.
We don’t say “people the train” – we describe the train as the thing that becomes crowded.

How do we know whether デパート is singular or plural here? Why do we translate it as “department stores”?

Japanese usually doesn’t mark singular vs. plural for ordinary nouns.

デパート can mean:
- “a department store”
- “the department store”
- “department stores (in general)”

Context tells us:

We’re talking about what typically happens on weekends.
It’s a general statement about department stores, not one specific store.

So natural English is:

“Department stores are very crowded on weekends.”

If the speaker meant one specific store, context or extra words would show that, e.g.:

このデパートは週末にとても混みます。
“This department store gets very crowded on weekends.”

What nuance does とても have? Could I use something like すごく or めっちゃ instead?

とても is a neutral, fairly polite adverb meaning “very”.

とても混みます。 → “It gets very crowded.”

Alternative intensifiers:

すごく混みます。 – “gets really crowded” (common, casual–neutral)
かなり混みます。 – “gets quite / considerably crowded”
めっちゃ混みます。 – “gets super crowded” (very casual, often Kansai-flavored)
ものすごく混みます。 – “gets incredibly crowded”

In a basic textbook-style sentence, とても混みます is the default safe choice.

Can I change the word order, for example to デパートは週末にとても混みます?

Yes, that sentence is grammatical and understandable:

デパートは週末にとても混みます。
“As for department stores, on weekends they get very crowded.”

Because Japanese uses particles, you can usually move time expressions and topics around a bit. However:

The original 週末のデパートはとても混みます treats “weekend department stores” as one chunk.
デパートは週末にとても混みます separates the time (週末に) and the topic (デパートは).

All of these are fine and natural:

週末のデパートはとても混みます。
週末はデパートがとても混みます。
デパートは週末にとても混みます。

They all mean roughly the same thing, with slightly different emphasis on weekends vs department stores.

Why isn’t there です at the end? Why isn’t it 混みますです or something like that?

In Japanese:

Verbs use the ～ます form for politeness:
- 混む → 混みます
Nouns and adjectives use です:
- 学生です – “(I) am a student.”
- きれいです – “It’s pretty.”

You don’t put です after a ます-form verb:

❌ 混みますです – wrong (except as a joke or dialect)
✅ 混みます。
✅ 混む。 (plain)

So 混みます by itself is already the polite verb form and doesn’t need です.

How would this sentence look in plain/casual speech?

The main change is to use the plain form of the verb, and you might also swap とても for a more casual adverb:

Polite:
週末のデパートはとても混みます。
Plain, still fairly neutral:
週末のデパートはとても混む。
Very natural casual speech:
週末のデパート、すごく混むよ。
or
週末のデパート、めっちゃ混むよ。 (very casual)

Changes:

混みます → 混む (polite → plain)
Maybe drop は after the topic in conversation (週末のデパート、…)
Use sentence-final particle よ to add “I’m telling you / you know” nuance.

How do you read each part of 週末のデパートはとても混みます。?

Readings and meanings:

週末 – しゅうまつ – weekend
の – の – (linking particle, “of” / “on”)
デパート – デパート – department store
は – わ (particle pronounced wa) – topic marker
とても – とても – very
混みます – こみます – gets crowded / becomes crowded

Full reading:
しゅうまつのデパートはとてもこみます。