難い・にくい

Auxiliary Adjective (い) (Basic ㊦ 307)

Something or someone is hard to ~.

Equivalent: Hard to ~; difficult to ~; don’t do something easily; not readily; not prone to ~

この本は大変読みにくい・にくいです。: This book is very hard to read.
このドアは開きにくいですね。: This door doesn't open easily, does it?
あの人の名前は覚えにくい。: His name is hard to remember.
あの先生は話しにくいです。: That teacher is hard to talk to.
この靴は走りにくいです。: These shoes are hard to run in.

Formation

Vます	難い
	話し難い	Someone is hard to talk to
	食べ難い	Something is hard to eat

Notes

1. Verbます+難い conjugates exactly like an Adjective い.

		Informal	Formal
Affirmative	Nonpast	話しにくい	話しにくいです
	Past	話しにくかった	話しにくかったです
Negative	Nonpast	話しにくくない	話しにくくありません
	Past	話しにくくなかった	話しにくくありませんでした

2. In both English and Japanese the subject of the 難い construction can be the subject of an intransitive verb, as in Example (a) where このドア 'this door' is the subject of 開く 'open'. It can also be the direct object of a transitive verb, as in Example (b) where あの人の名前 'his name' is the direct object of 覚える 'remember'. It can be the indirect object of a transitive verb, as in Example (c) where あの先生 'that teacher' is the indirect object of 話す 'talk'. Finally, the subject can be Noun+Particle such as この靴で 'with these shoes' corresponding in English to Preposition+Noun. In this construction, as in Examples (c) and (d), note that the preposition in the English sentence is retained but the corresponding particle in the Japanese sentence is deleted.

3. やすい 'easy to do ~' is an antonym of 難い. The basic formation of the やすい construction is the identical to the 難い construction.

(⇨ 易い)