Hey everyone. Sorry, I know it’s been a while, so I thought I’d pop back in for a quick tip. One of the most frequent mistakes my students make is saying some version of the following:

“I have difficult.”

“I have difficult to understand.”

“I have difficult to talk.”

“I have difficult to pronounce.”

(These are all actual examples from real students.)

First things first, ‘difficult’ is an adjective, which means it describes things like big, small, happy, and sad.

You cannot have an adjective, but you can have a noun like a house, book, bag, and pencil.

So let’s talk about what you can say instead:

“It’s difficult for me.”

It’s difficult for me to pronounce the word ‘spontaneously.’

“It’s hard for me.” 

It’s hard for me to talk in front of a large group.