-기 쉽다/어렵다 in Korean: “easy to, hard to”

-기 쉽다 (-gi swipda) means "easy to do" and -기 어렵다 (-gi eoryeopda) means "hard to do." -기 쉽다 can also mean "likely to," as in "it's easy to catch a cold in winter."

How to form it

How to use it

-기 turns a verb into a noun ("doing"), and 쉽다 or 어렵다 describes it. You can add 가 after 기 for a little emphasis: 찾기가 어려워요.

-기 쉽다 has a second meaning: "it easily happens" or "likely to." 실수하기 쉬워요 means "it's easy to make a mistake," in the sense of "people often do."

쉽다 and 어렵다 are ㅂ-irregular, so the ㅂ changes to 우: 쉬워요, 어려워요, 쉬운, 어려운. The same pattern works with similar adjectives, like -기 힘들다 (tough to) and -기 좋다 (good for doing).

Examples

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Don’t mix it up with

-(으)ㄹ 수 있다: -(으)ㄹ 수 있다 says whether something is possible. -기 쉽다/어렵다 says how easy or hard it is.

-기 좋다: -기 좋다 means "good for doing" or "nice to do," as in 걷기 좋은 날 (a nice day for a walk).

Common mistakes

Conjugating 쉽다 like a regular verb, as in 쉽어요. Because of the ㅂ-irregular rule, it is 쉬워요, and 어렵다 becomes 어려워요.