English · Idiom Candidate

have a hard time

Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Both English Tiếng Việt

Meaning · English

Experience difficulty or struggle

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

Trải qua khó khăn hoặc đấu tranh

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Literally: undergo a difficult period

Where it’s used: Used Widespread English

Examples

She had a hard time learning the new language

AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)

Sources & notes

Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.

Equivalents & related

Near equivalent trâu buộc ghét trâu ăn those who have a hard time tend to be jealous of those who are better off Tiếng Việt

Topics: Time

Common questions

What does “have a hard time” mean?

Experience difficulty or struggle Literally: undergo a difficult period

Is “have a hard time” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.

What is the closest equivalent?

“trâu buộc ghét trâu ăn” (Tiếng Việt) — near equivalent.