어렵다
eo-ryeop-da
Exams, household money, and asking a favour all catch on the same word
The picture The road ahead is narrow and blocked, so each single step costs a long push. 어렵다 is being blocked and forcing your way one step; 쉽다 is nothing catching and going through in one go.
Where the picture shows up in 어렵다
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the hand stalls at a problem
이번 시험은 너무 어려웠어요.
i-beon si-heo-meun neo-mu eo-ryeo-wo-sseo-yo
This exam was far too hard.
You read the question and pick up the pencil, but the hand stops dead on the paper and not one letter comes out
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words jam at the ear
설명이 어려워서 못 알아들었어요.
seol-myeong-i eo-ryeo-wo-seo mot a-ra-deu-reo-sseo-yo
The explanation was hard, so I didn't follow it.
The words poured out at you stack up in a lump outside the ear, and not a single one gets into the head
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the route money comes in narrows
요즘 살림 형편이 어려워요.
yo-jeum sal-lim hyeong-pyeo-ni eo-ryeo-wo-yo
Money is tight at home these days.
The road leading to the wallet narrows, more goes out than comes in, and the bottom starts showing
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the throat closes on a request
바쁜 분한테 부탁하기가 어려워요.
ba-ppeun bun-han-te bu-ta-ka-gi-ga eo-ryeo-wo-yo
It's hard to ask a favour of someone that busy.
The request climbs up to the throat, then you see the other person's face and it catches there and sinks back down
Not a matter of ability — the block is in your own feelings.
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the supply route is blocked
이 약은 지금 구하기 어렵습니다.
i ya-geun ji-geum gu-ha-gi eo-ryeop-seum-ni-da
That medicine is hard to get right now.
The lane the medicine used to arrive by is closed, so you walk out of shop after shop empty-handed
All of it in one picture
어렵다 is one picture: the way ahead is blocked. When a hand stalls in front of a problem, the exam is 어렵다; when words pile up at the ear, the explanation is 어렵다. When the route money comes in by narrows, the household is 어렵다; when the throat closes, asking a favour is 어렵다; when the supply route closes, the medicine is hard to get. So wherever 어렵다 appears, something jams at exactly that point.