{"id":162768,"date":"2022-03-08T00:00:34","date_gmt":"2022-03-08T00:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rachelsenglish.com\/?p=162768"},"modified":"2024-01-28T20:54:58","modified_gmt":"2024-01-28T20:54:58","slug":"do-not-say-its-hard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rachelsenglish.com\/do-not-say-its-hard\/","title":{"rendered":"Do NOT Say \u201cIt\u2019s Hard\u201d &#8211; English Phrase Builder"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Let me show you 21 more interesting alternatives to saying \u201cIt\u2019s hard\u201d. Master these phrases and you\u2019ll sound more natural and smooth when speaking English. <\/p>\n\n\n<p style=\"text-align: right; padding-left: 570px;\"><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: right; padding-left: 570px;\"><strong>YouTube blocked? <\/strong><a href=\"#video\">Click here to see the video.<\/a><\/p>\n<p><div class=\"container-lazyload preview-lazyload container-youtube js-lazyload--not-loaded\"><a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/mxuvmwiANZE\" class=\"lazy-load-youtube preview-lazyload preview-youtube\" data-video-title=\"Do NOT Say \u201cIt\u2019s Hard\u201d!! | ADVANCED English Lesson\" title=\"Play video &quot;Do NOT Say \u201cIt\u2019s Hard\u201d!! | ADVANCED English Lesson&quot;\">https:\/\/youtu.be\/mxuvmwiANZE<\/a><noscript>Video can&#8217;t be loaded because JavaScript is disabled: <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/mxuvmwiANZE\" title=\"Do NOT Say \u201cIt\u2019s Hard\u201d!! | ADVANCED English Lesson\">Do NOT Say \u201cIt\u2019s Hard\u201d!! | ADVANCED English Lesson (https:\/\/youtu.be\/mxuvmwiANZE)<\/a><\/noscript><\/div><\/p>\n<p><strong>Video Transcript:<\/strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">Oh my gosh, Marina. I woke up so early today, it was hard. And then a really hard workout on my\u00a0 Peloton, and then a busy day, it was hard!\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Oh, wow Rachel it does sound hard. You know what else is hard? Expanding your vocabulary.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">True. But today we\u2019re going to do just that. Marina and I are going to give you 21 expressions to use instead of, or in addition to, \u201cit\u2019s hard\u201d.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">One thing you can say if something is really hard is \u201cit\u2019s killing me.\u201d You can use this for something that is either physically hard or emotionally hard.\u00a0 For example, let\u2019s say you applied to a bunch of colleges and you\u2019re waiting to hear where you were accepted. You could say, The wait is killing me. Or, let\u2019s say you\u2019re in healthcare and your hospital is short-staffed. That means there aren\u2019t enough workers. So you\u2019ve had to pick up some overnight shifts. That\u2019s very hard physically. You could say, this schedule is killing me.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u00a0This job is killing me man.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">Let\u2019s have Marina bring you number two. She\u2019s from the Linguamarina channel. She lives in the US, but was born abroad, and, as a person who learned English as a second language, she knows exactly what challenges you\u2019re facing on your English learning journey. She makes videos about how to speak English fast and understand native speakers, vocabulary, and life hacks on how to make the process of learning English fun. Check out her channel and be sure to subscribe with notifications to both her channel and my channel if you haven\u2019t already.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">It took a lot of blood, sweat and tears. That means it was a very hard thing to do and it required a lot of effort. It took Jack a lot of blood, sweat and tears to talk his three-year old daughter into going into a dentist, oh this is the story of my life, my two-year old daughter hates going to the doctors and it takes me blood, sweat and tears every time we have an appointment. So basically, it takes us a lot of time and effort to take her there to explain what would be going on and also think of a treat that she\u2019s going to get after the appointment.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">I put my blood, sweat and tears into my coaching\u00a0<\/span><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">A hiccup, bump in the road, a hurdle to jump. I\u2019m grouping three together here because they all came up in a conversation with a friend. It\u2019s funny how, when you use one idiom, it\u2019s sometimes hard to give the literal meaning.\u00a0 I\u2019ve found we often explain idioms with other idioms.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">There was a minor hiccup with um, a situation with a badge where I was not allowed access?\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">What do you mean by hiccup?\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">Um, there was a situation which was not ideal, it was a bump in the road.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">Bump in the road, now that\u2019s also an idiom. Could you explain that?\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">It was really what I would call a hurdle that I had that<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">A hurdle!\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">There was a hiccup. Something didn\u2019t go smoothly; something wasn\u2019t easily done. She was traveling for work, and she was expecting to have the access she needed to get into the building. But it wasn\u2019t that easy, she had to take extra steps. A hiccup is something minor. It doesn\u2019t make life really hard, just a little inconvenient.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">A bump in the road is just like a hiccup, it\u2019s a minor inconvenience. It\u2019s not a huge deal, it just makes things a little harder to move forward in a situation.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">So that\u2019s it? You get one little bump in the road and you give up?\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">She did eventually get the access she needed to the building, she just had to do a few extra things to get that access.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">The reason we\u2019re all laughing is because she keeps explaining an idiom with another idiom. None of these are the literal meaning, they are all the idiomatic meaning.\u00a0 No one, actually had the hiccups, she was not literally traveling on a road with bumps, and there were no literal hurdles to jump over, like you would in a track race or something. These are all phrases to say you had to do more work to make something happen, it was not as easy as you were expecting, the situation, the task, was a little bit harder than you thought it would be.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">For example, our plane was delayed, so there was a little hiccup, but overall the trip was fine.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">There was a bump in the road with my launch because the video editor got sick, but eventually everything got done.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">There were some hurdles to jump with our mortgage application they kept wanting more information but in the end we were approved.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u00a0It was a hard-won. That means that you achieved something after a lot of effort. It was a hard-won journey moving from Russia to the US at the age of 25. That\u2019s the story of my life.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">It\u2019s been a slog. A slog is hard work or tiring work over a period of time.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">For example, if you\u2019re telling a friend about your job, you could say: We just got a lot of new clients, which is great, but it has sort of been a slog.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u00a0It\u2019s been a slog in many areas\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">It\u2019s a bumpy road. We use this expression to replace it\u2019s hard when we talk about our journey to something. For example, \u201cI built a company in the United States and it was a bumpy road.\u201d Which means I finally accomplished my goal but there were a lot of obstacles on the way. I had to get my green card, I had to set up a company, I had to find a CPA, I had to find a banker, I had to find clients but in the end, I got there but it was a bumpy road. You see it\u2019s good to know an alternative to a widely used word because every alternative gives you this different mood like I could have said it was hard to build a company in the United States but hard is discouraging. When I say it was a bumpy road, I mean that you know, I did it yes, I had some obstacles but here I am. So, it doesn\u2019t have this additional weight of being something that was really hard and challenging. It was a bumpy road so slightly lighter.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">It\u2019s a very bumpy road, people are couch surfing, people are trying to figure it out.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">It\u2019s slow-going. If something is slow-going, progress is difficult, hard, it\u2019s not easy. Getting a task done is taking longer than projected, probably because there have been some hiccups or bumps in the road. For example, \u201cFinishing my novel has been very slow-going\u2013I\u2019m just having a really hard time focusing.\u201d<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">But it is hard work and it\u2019s slow going and you need to really work through the unforeseen consequences of each element that you put in place.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Another great phrase that you can use in order to impress native speakers when you speak English, there were some curveballs. And even if you do not intend to use these phrases, it is good to know what they mean because sometimes I speak to Americans, they use some phrase and I can\u2019t really say what it means just by hearing the phrase, so over the time I learned that I have to know a lot of idioms, I have to know a lot of synonyms because people actually use them all the time. And I don\u2019t want to be this person who\u2019s like you didn\u2019t get something, you sit there like yes yeah, that was me when I first came to the US like I didn\u2019t get a phrase I\u2019d be \u201cAhuh, great.\u201d Now, it\u2019s kind of easier but it\u2019s a bumpy road to get here. Let\u2019s go back to this phrase, \u201cThere were some curveballs\u201d. A curveball is something unexpected, something comes up and you have to deal with it. For example, I can say I have a wonderful time living in California but there are some curveballs all the time. I don\u2019t know, something happens, you have to pay a lot of taxes or you have to move to a new place, you just had two kids or you\u2019re raising a venture round as a creator but you have to deal with legal procedures, investors, etcetera.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">But life throws you curveball bro!\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">It wasn\u2019t straightforward. If something is straightforward, it\u2019s uncomplicated and easy to do or understand. So if it isn\u2019t straightforward, it is complicated, it\u2019s not easy to do or understand. For example, when I lived in New York city, I got invited to a wedding in Harrisonburg, Virgina and I thought, \u201cGreat, I&#8217;ll take a train. Well, it turns out it&#8217;s not that straightforward. There&#8217;s no train directly there. There\u2019s not even a good train option with a transfer, you could take a train to DC and then you could maybe take a bus over to the Harrisonburg area and then maybe take a cab to the wedding itself and I was like, \u201cWhoa, I thought this was going to be easy but it\u2019s actually not straightforward at all. So you know what I did? I ended up renting a car.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">It was rough or it\u2019s rough going. Now, this phrase is kind of it has a slightly negative mood like how is your business doing? It was rough. When you say it\u2019s rough, the you actually imply that you have problems there, sometimes serious problems. Like if you ask me how was my travel related business impacted by Covid, I would say it was rough.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">This whole year has been pretty rough going down at the mine.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">Numbers 13 and 14 both begin with \u2018put through\u2019 \u2013 they put me through the wringer, they put me through my paces. A wringer is a device used in doing laundry by hand to get excess water out of the clothes or linens you\u2019re washing.\u00a0 You crank the fabric through and it wrings out the water. Ouch! I do NOT want to be put through a wringer! But we use this idiom to mean several difficult or unpleasant experiences. Let\u2019s say you\u2019re a graphic designer and you\u2019ve applied for a job at a big company. You send in your cover letter and resume, then they interview you.\u00a0 But then they ask for more examples of your portfolio that you have to pull together. Then they ask you to interview with two more people.\u00a0 Then they ask you to work on a sample project. You get the job and you think, I\u2019m so glad they hired me but they really put me through the wringer!<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">Put me though my paces has the exact same meaning: To make one undergo a thorough testing or examination to evaluate one&#8217;s worth, ability, or competence. For example, \u201cI did get the job, but they put me through my paces in the application process.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">Kate\u2019s been through the wringer so it\u2019s not going to make her any worse.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">Another phrase that you can use is \u201cno picnic\u201d. No picnic means something is difficult to do something is not pleasant. Again, taking a child to a doctor is \u201cno picnic\u201d. Which means it\u2019s harder and less pleasant than having a picnic in the park with your kid.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">Also picnics are no picnic.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">The next two have to do with being hard to figure out. So it\u2019s not hard to do something, like most of these phrases that we\u2019re listing here, but it\u2019s hard to solve the problem. I\u2019m stumped and I\u2019m baffled. This is like I\u2019ve tried everything I can think of, I now have no idea what to do to solve this problem. For example, I have this apple peeler, corer, slicer that comes in so handy when I\u2019m making apple pies, but it stopped working and I looked and looked and could not figure out what was wrong. I was completely stumped, so I asked my brother-in-law to help me figure out how to fix it. For a while, he was also baffled, but then we got it working. Just in time for those thanksgiving pies.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u00a0Great power has always baffled primitive man.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Uphill climb or an uphill battle. This means that something is difficult to do and requires a lot of effort and determination.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">The process of moving to another country is always an uphill battle because you have to deal with the documents, you have to find a place to live but at the end of the day it\u2019s also super exciting because you\u2019re building a new life.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">And it does mean that there are going to be some that aren\u2019t successful and it\u2019s going to be an uphill climb for some.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Uphill both ways. Now, this is a funny phrase that you can hear from older people, so basically think of a hill. And when you walk uphill the it means you actually go down and it\u2019s easier to go down so when you walk uphill, you expect that things will get easier when you go down. Now, when you say \u201cI walk uphill both ways\u201d, that means instead of going down, he actually climbed on another side as well. You know I can say it was so hard to get a full ride scholarship in an American University, I had to write an essay, I had to do this and that and somebody from the 80\u2019s might answer \u201cI went uphill both ways to get into a university in the US because now you have internet, now you have Youtube with free resources on how to get a full ride scholarship and I didn\u2019t have it so basically this phrase is used to show that we\u2019re a generation with a lot of opportunities and it\u2019s easier for us to reach goals that were hard to reach back in the day.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">It\u2019s a bear. A bear. Big, hard to control, a little scary. Something that\u2019s a bear is tough to deal with, hard to do.\u00a0 A couple of years ago we moved from our \u2018starter\u2019 home to our dream home. Even though we hired a company to help with the process, the move was still a bear.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">You could also say \u201cit\u2019s murder\u201d when something is extremely unpleasant to deal with.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">It\u2019s murder finding parking in San Francisco Financial District. Oh, believe me. I used to live there, it\u2019s murder. Like you won\u2019t imagine, I don\u2019t know where you\u2019re watching this from but it costs around $15 to park your car for 15 minutes downtown San Francisco.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">\u201cHell\u201d and \u201cI went to hell and back\u201d to do it. Hell in various religions is the realm of evil and suffering. You do not want to be there. If something is hell, then it\u2019s very hard. She had a very difficult recovery from the accident, it was just hell.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">Yes, every minute of it was hell.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">A variation on this phrase is \u2018went to hell and back to do it\u201d. If you went to hell and back to achieve something, you put in an incredible amount of hard work to do it. For example: Well, I went to hell and back but I finished my thesis.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">Easier said than done, you can use this phrase when something sounds easy but it would actually be hard to bring something to life.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">Finding a perfect house was easier said than done. It took us two months to find our house in California.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">Yeah, but that\u2019s easier said than done.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">You have to do it; you have no choice.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">Ok Marina, I think we did it! Thank you for helping me, this was great!<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">Thank you guys for watching this video, don\u2019t forget to subscribe to my channel\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">Bye Marina. Don\u2019t forget to subscribe with notifications to Linguamarina here on YouTube, and of course do check out the video that we made on Marina\u2019s channel which will come out March 9 to find 15 more phrases we can use instead of \u2018it\u2019s hard\u2019. I\u2019m also releasing a bonus video to my membership this week of 7 more phrases. Can you believe how many ways there are to say something is hard? Pick a couple of these phrases that you\u2019ve never used before that you saw in this video and think about situations in your life where you might use them.\u00a0 What\u2019s been a slog for you? What problem has left you stumped? Get comfortable with these phrases and start using them in your everyday English to express yourself with more sophistication.\u00a0 <\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">Keep your learning going now with this video and don\u2019t forget to subscribe with notifications so you never miss a lesson. I love being your English teacher and accent trainer. That\u2019s it, and thanks so much for using Rachel\u2019s English.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Video:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><a name=\"video\"><\/a><\/p>\n<div style=\"width: 640px;\" class=\"wp-video\"><!--[if lt IE 9]><script>document.createElement('video');<\/script><![endif]-->\n<video class=\"wp-video-shortcode\" id=\"video-162768-1\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" preload=\"metadata\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"video\/mp4\" src=\"https:\/\/07f1c47b71c75472a3cc-b7eea9689205a6672fd1aa00be922d89.ssl.cf1.rackcdn.com\/806.mp4?_=1\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/07f1c47b71c75472a3cc-b7eea9689205a6672fd1aa00be922d89.ssl.cf1.rackcdn.com\/806.mp4\">https:\/\/07f1c47b71c75472a3cc-b7eea9689205a6672fd1aa00be922d89.ssl.cf1.rackcdn.com\/806.mp4<\/a><\/video><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Let me show you 21 more interesting alternatives to saying \u201cIt\u2019s hard\u201d. Master these phrases and you\u2019ll sound more natural and smooth when speaking English. YouTube blocked? Click here to see the video. Video Transcript:\u00a0 Oh my gosh, Marina. I woke up so early today, it was hard. And then a really hard workout on [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":162769,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[215],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-162768","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-learn-english-vocabulary","8":"entry"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Advanced English Lesson<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The #1 Best Way to Learn ADVANCED English\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/rachelsenglish.com\/do-not-say-its-hard\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Advanced English Lesson\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The #1 Best Way to Learn ADVANCED English\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/rachelsenglish.com\/do-not-say-its-hard\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Rachel&#039;s English\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-03-08T00:00:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-01-28T20:54:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"By Rachel&#039;s English\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"By Rachel&#039;s English\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"13 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/rachelsenglish.com\/do-not-say-its-hard\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/rachelsenglish.com\/do-not-say-its-hard\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"By Rachel's English\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/rachelsenglish.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9afa3dd299da526f6a2ed9a43994fc3d\"},\"headline\":\"Do NOT Say \u201cIt\u2019s Hard\u201d &#8211; 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