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Do you remember how to say it’s difficult In Korean? Try to search all your brain cells and  answer it in 5 seconds!

What’s 힘들어요 Meaning in Korean

힘들어요

[himdeureoyo]
It’s tough / It’s hard / I’m tired

Basic form : 힘들다
반말(informal non-honorific) form : 힘들어
Negative form with 해요 speech style : 안힘들어요

Basically, you can say it means something is tough or hard in Korean. However you must know this Korean word 힘들다 is not same at all to English ‘tough’ or ‘hard’. You can easily understand if you see what’s the literal meaning of 힘들다.

You can actually separate 힘들다 into 2 words which work perfectly alone. One is 힘 means power or strength in Korean, another one is 들다 means lift in Korean (can mean many things though). So, technically 힘들다 means a physical hardness or backbreaking.

Many students also asked a tutorial for differences between 힘들다 and 어렵다. You can check the next tutorial for the differences.

Extended Meaning of 힘들다

Korean language extends the meaning of 힘들다 for mental hardness or problems too, you can use like ‘I’m having a hard time’ or ‘this work is hard’ with using 힘들다. 힘들다 mostly sounds like you’re exhausted or something is physically/mentally tiring.

이 일은 정말 힘들어요
This works is really hard

요즘 저 너무 힘들어요
I’m having a hard time these days

How To Use

A: 저 너무 힘들어요
I’m having a hard time / I’m so exhausted
B: 안아줄게요
I’ll hug you

A: 아… 힘들어요
Ahh I’m tired
B: 좀 쉬어요
Take a break a bit

A: 유니콘이 되고 싶은데 너무 힘들어요
I want to be a unicorn but it’s too hard
B: 모든 사람은 유니콘을 꿈꾸죠
Everybody dreams to be a unicorn