hanadumari de azi ga yoku wakaranakatta ga, atatakai suupu wo nondara sukosi raku ni natta.

鼻づまり means nasal congestion or a stuffy nose.

It comes from:

• 鼻 = nose
• づまり / 詰まり = blockage, clogging

So 鼻づまりで means because of a stuffy nose or due to nasal congestion.

This is a very natural word in everyday Japanese, especially when talking about colds or allergies.

Here, で shows the cause or reason for what follows.

So:

• 鼻づまりで = because of my stuffy nose
• 味がよく分からなかった = I couldn’t really tell the taste

Together, it means something like Because of my stuffy nose, I couldn’t really tell the taste.

This use of で is common with nouns that describe conditions or situations:

• 風邪で休んだ = I was absent because of a cold.
• 渋滞で遅れた = I was late because of traffic.

In Japanese, 分かる usually takes が, not を.

So:

• 味が分かる = to understand / recognize / tell the taste
• not normally 味を分かる

This is because 分かる behaves differently from a typical English verb like understand. The thing understood is usually marked with が in standard Japanese.

So:

• 日本語が分かる = I understand Japanese
• 意味が分かる = I understand the meaning
• 味が分かる = I can tell the taste

For English speakers, this often feels unusual, but it is very normal in Japanese.

Yes. Here よく means well or clearly, and with the negative it becomes:

• よく分かる = to understand clearly / to tell well
• よく分からない = to not really understand / to not be able to tell clearly

So 味がよく分からなかった means:

• I couldn’t really tell the taste
• I couldn’t taste it well
• The flavor wasn’t clear to me

This is a very common pattern in Japanese:

• よく見えない = I can’t see well
• よく聞こえない = I can’t hear well
• よく分からない = I don’t really understand

So よく does not make the sentence more positive here; it combines naturally with the negative.

Japanese often expresses this idea as not being able to tell the taste rather than directly not tasting.

So:

• 味が分からない = I can’t tell the taste / flavor
• 味がしない = there is no taste / it tastes like nothing

These are similar, but not identical.

Nuance difference

• 味が分からない focuses on your ability to perceive or identify the flavor
• 味がしない focuses on the food seeming tasteless

Because a stuffy nose affects flavor perception, 味がよく分からなかった is very natural here.

Here, が means but.

So the sentence is roughly:

• I couldn’t really tell the taste because of my stuffy nose, but after drinking some warm soup, I felt a little better.

This が connects two clauses with a softer, more written or narrative tone than plain English but sometimes suggests.

Compare:

• 〜が = but, although
• 〜けど / けれど = but, though

All of these can work, but が often sounds a little more formal or written.

This is a very common learner question.

Both can relate to temperature, but they are used differently:

• 温かい = warm
• 熱い = hot

For food and drinks:

• 温かいスープ = warm soup
• 熱いスープ = hot soup

In this sentence, 温かい gives a gentle, comforting feeling. It sounds natural in a sentence about feeling better.

Also, Japanese often uses:

• 温かい for something pleasantly warm
• 熱い for something strongly hot

So 温かいスープ sounds soothing and fits the context very well.

飲んだら is the past plain form + ら conditional.

From:

• 飲む = to drink
• 飲んだ = drank
• 飲んだら = when/if I drank; after drinking

In this sentence, it means something like:

• when I drank
• after I drank

So:

• 温かいスープを飲んだら、少し楽になった = After I drank some warm soup, I felt a little better.

In real usage, 〜たら often means when/after doing X, Y happened, especially for a specific event in the past.

楽になる means to become more comfortable, to feel relief, or to feel better.

Here:

• 楽 = comfortable, at ease, relieved
• になる = to become

So:

• 楽になった = became easier / felt relieved / felt better
• 少し楽になった = felt a little better

This is very common when talking about symptoms or physical discomfort:

• 薬を飲んで楽になった = I felt better after taking medicine.
• 横になったら少し楽になった = I felt a little better after lying down.

It does not necessarily mean the person was fully cured. It just means the discomfort eased somewhat.

The に is used because なる often takes a noun or na-adjective stem + に to show what something becomes.

So:

• 楽になる = become comfortable / feel relieved
• 静かになる = become quiet
• 元気になる = become well / cheerful / energetic

Since 楽 behaves like a na-adjective, it becomes:

• 楽に
  • なる

This is the same pattern as:

• きれいになる = become clean / pretty
• 上手になる = become skilled

Japanese often omits the subject when it is clear from context.

In this sentence, the understood subject is probably I:

• (私は) 鼻づまりで味がよく分からなかったが、温かいスープを飲んだら少し楽になった。

In English, you usually need to say I, but in Japanese it is often left out if there is no confusion.

This is one of the biggest differences between English and Japanese. Japanese prefers to omit information that the listener can easily infer.

It can mean both, depending on context.

Here 少し楽になった can be understood as:

• I felt a little better
• I felt somewhat better
• I got a bit of relief

It suggests a small improvement, not a complete recovery.

This is a very natural way to describe symptoms improving slightly.

Yes, definitely.

You could say:

• 鼻づまりで味がよく分からなかったけど、温かいスープを飲んだら少し楽になった。

This would sound more conversational.

Nuance

• が = slightly more formal, written, or narrative
• けど = more casual, spoken

The meaning is basically the same in this sentence.

It is closer to flavor in the broader sense.

In Japanese, 味 literally means taste, but in real life it can cover the overall sense of flavor too. Since a stuffy nose affects smell, and smell affects flavor, 味がよく分からなかった sounds completely natural.

So even though the word is taste, the idea is often broader than the strict scientific sense of taste alone.

It breaks down like this:

• 鼻づまりで = because of a stuffy nose
• 味がよく分からなかった = I couldn’t really tell the taste
• が = but
• 温かいスープを飲んだら = when/after I drank warm soup
• 少し楽になった = I felt a little better

So the flow is:

cause of problem → problem → contrast → action → improvement

That is a very common Japanese sentence pattern.