The pattern

"It's hard for me to" plus a verb names something you find difficult, without making it a drama. "It's hard for me to hear you" is a fact about the phone line. "It's hard for me to say no" is a fact about your personality. The "for me" is the useful part: it says this is your experience, not a universal truth, so nobody has to argue.

Change the person and the pattern travels: hard for her to, hard for us to, hard for a beginner to. Change the adjective and it does other jobs: important for me to, impossible for me to, strange for me to.

Say it out loud

Tap a sentence to hear it. Say it after the voice.

  9. Swap the adjective and the frame still works: important for me to, difficult for me to.

Check yourself

1What does "for me" add to "It's hard to say no"?
2Which sentence is correct?
3Which line pairs the difficulty with a request?

Practice · 3 min

Say what you find difficult. Prompt on the left, one natural sentence on the right.

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5

Say it today

Use it once in a real conversation before tomorrow. Out loud counts, even to yourself.