づらい details
write + hard to do — the doer finds it awkward, uncomfortable or unpleasant
kaki zurai
hard to do — the doer finds it awkward, uncomfortable or unpleasant
meaning: find it hard to write
正直、こういうことは言いづらい。
shoujiki, kou iu koto wa ii zurai.
Honestly, I find it hard to say things like this. neutral
この字、小さくて読みづらいなあ。
kono ji, chiisakute yomizurai naa.
This writing is so small it's a pain to read. casual
- past
- polite
- negative
Examples
hard to do because the doer finds it awkward, uncomfortable or unpleasant — the trouble is felt by a person, not posed by the object
正直、こういうことは言いづらい。
shoujiki, kou iu koto wa iizurai.
Honestly, I find it hard to say things like this. neutral
この字、小さくて読みづらいなあ。
kono ji, chiisakute yomizurai naa.
This writing is so small it's a pain to read. casual
新しい靴がまだ硬くて、歩きづらい。
atarashii kutsu ga mada katakute, arukizurai.
My new shoes are still stiff, so they're awkward to walk in. neutral
恐れ入りますが、お名前が少し聞き取りづらいので、もう一度お願いできますか。
osoreirimasu ga, o namae ga sukoshi kikitorizurai node, mou ichido onegai dekimasu ka.
I'm sorry, but I'm having trouble catching your name — could I ask you to repeat it? formal
Formation
{V-masu-stem}づらいattaches to ます-stem
Notes
the doer's reluctance that にくい does not, which is why the things you would
rather not say take it (言いづらい, 断りづらい, 頼みづらい).
Related patterns
Similar
にくい judges how much the thing itself resists (このネジは外れにくい); づらい reports the discomfort of whoever is trying, so it wants a human on the difficult end — which is why 壊れにくい has no established づらい counterpart.
Both narrow にくい's plain difficulty, in opposite directions — づらい is everyday spoken awkwardness (言いづらい, a thing you'd rather not bring up), がたい a considered written judgment on a small cognitive verb set (言いがたい, "one could hardly call it that").
Opposite
- やすいplain-antonym
やすい does double duty as the positive pole — 読みやすい answers 読みにくい and 読みづらい alike, so the doer-versus-object split that づらい and にくい keep apart is simply not marked on the easy side.