Difficult to do with 〜にくい

Grammar: Difficulty » 〜にくい

To express that an action is difficult to do, the auxiliary adjective にくい may be appended to the verb stem

Properties of にくい as an auxiliary adjective include:

• Used with more physical verbs than がたい.
• Used with both verbs that do and do not involve intention.
• More objective than づらい.

Examples

Difficult to call out with 〜にくい

A trip to the vet reveals to Alice that her kitten Maa-kun is a girl, not a boy.

アリス:

「どうしましょう。「まぁちゃん」じゃ語呂(ごろ)が悪(わる)くて呼(よ)びにくいです」

“What should I do? "Maa-chan" sounds bad and is difficult to call out.”

灯里(あかり):

「(そっちなの？)」

“(That's the issue?)”

藍華(あいか):

「今(いま)まで通(どお)り『まぁくん』でいいんじゃない」

“Isn't it fine to stick with 'Maa-kaun'?”

Hard to drink with 〜にくい

Cocoa shows Chiya her newly-learned latte art skill when giving her a drink. However, whenever Chiya goes to drink the coffee, Cocoa looks sad to see her masterpiece about to be destroyed.

千夜(ちや):

「の…のみにくい」

“It's...difficult to drink.”