〜にくい — Hard to do (Structural Difficulty)
Attached to the masu-stem to express that an action is inherently or structurally difficult to perform. It focuses on the characteristics of the object or situation, not your emotional state.
Structure
[Verb masu-stem] + にくい
Examples
この字は読みにくいです。
Kono ji wa yominikui desu.
This handwriting is hard to read.
読み (read, masu-stem) + にくい (structurally difficult)
この肉は固くて食べにくい。
Kono niku wa katakute tabenikui.
This meat is tough and hard to eat.
食べ + にくい = physically tough to chew
雨の日は運転しにくい。
Ame no hi wa unten shinikui.
It is hard to drive on rainy days.
運転し + にくい = environmental difficulty
• にくい vs づらい: Both mean "hard to do". にくい refers to inherent/physical difficulty (meat is physically tough to chew = 食べにくい). づらい refers to emotional/mental burden (I feel bad eating it = 食べづらい). • Adjective Conversion: When にくい attaches to a verb, the whole word becomes an い-adjective and conjugates like one (読みにくかった).
Commonly confused with
The JLPT rarely asks whether you recognise a pattern — it asks which of several similar patterns fits. These are the ones 〜にくい is tested against.
vs づらい
づらい is psychological/emotional difficulty; にくい is inherent, physical or structural difficulty.
vs やすい
やすい is the direct opposite — 'easy to do' (読みやすい = easy to read).
More expressions
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