Skip to content

difficile

difficult

adjective deef-FEE-chee-leh Common
Descriptions & Qualities Quality

Origin: Latin difficilis (not easy), from dis- + facilis

Also means

hard, tough

Usage Note

Difficile has only two forms: difficile (m/f singular) and difficili (m/f plural) — it does not change for gender. The opposite is facile ('easy'). Colloquially è difficile che + subjunctive means 'it's unlikely that': è difficile che venga ('he's unlikely to come'), which can trip up learners expecting a straightforward negation.

Examples

"Questo esercizio è molto difficile."

Natural Translation

This exercise is very difficult.

Explore Italian by topic