〜にくい

〜にくい is the mirror image of 〜やすい: take the verb ます-form, drop ます, and add にくい to say the action is "hard to do": 読みにくい (hard to read), 覚えにくい (hard to remember), 飲みにくい (hard to swallow).

Like 〜やすい, the verb + にくい combination conjugates as an い-adjective: 使いにくかった (was hard to use), 読みにくくて (hard to read, so…).

Note: 〜にくい describes difficulty due to the nature of the thing, not "impossible." If you want to say outright that something "can't be done," use the negative potential form (読めません), not 読みにくい.

Examples

• この漢字(かんじ)は覚(おぼ)えにくいです。

  This kanji is hard to remember.

• この薬(くすり)は大(おお)きくて飲(の)みにくいです。

  This pill is big, so it's hard to swallow.

• 彼(かれ)の字(じ)は小(ちい)さくて読(よ)みにくいです。

  His handwriting is small and hard to read.

Related patterns

• 〜やすい
• 可能形