Difficult to do with 〜にくい

Grammar: Difficulty » 〜にくい

Usage Notes

〜にくい is a general way to say an action is hard to do. It sounds more objective than 〜づらい, as if the action or object itself has a property that makes the action difficult.

For emotional or personal difficulty, 〜づらい is used.

Properties of にくい as an auxiliary adjective include:

• Used with more physical verbs than がたい.
• Used with both verbs that do and do not involve intention.
• More objective than づらい.

Further Reading

• Describing actions as easy or hard - Tae Kim's Japanese grammar guide (guidetojapanese.org)
• V + やすい & V + にくい (maggiesensei.com)

Examples

Want to submit a manga example for this grammar?

Difficult to call out with 〜にくい

Grammar Explanation: Difficult to do with 〜にくい

A trip to the vet reveals to Alice that her kitten Maa-kun is a girl, not a boy.

アリス:

「どうしましょう。『まぁちゃん』じゃ語呂(ごろ)が悪(わる)くて呼(よ)びにくいです」

“What should I do? 'Maa-chan' sounds bad and is difficult to call out.”

灯里(あかり):

「(そっちなの？)」

“(That's the issue?)”

藍華(あいか):

「今(いま)まで通(どお)り『まぁくん』でいいんじゃない」

“Isn't it fine to stick with 'Maa-kun'?”

Hard to drink with 〜にくい

Grammar Explanation: Difficult to do with 〜にくい

Cocoa shows Chiya her newly-learned latte art skill when giving her a drink. However, whenever Chiya goes to drink the coffee, Cocoa looks sad to see her masterpiece about to be destroyed.

千夜(ちや):

「の…のみにくい」

“It's...difficult to drink.”