Ways to say it
| French | IPA | Note |
|---|---|---|
| dur | /dyʁ/ (Europe) /d͡zʏʁ/ (Canada) |
masculine |
| difficile | /di.fi.sil/ | feminine, masculine |
The term dur describes something requiring a lot of effort to do or understand. In a related sense, dur or durement can be used as an adverb meaning with much force or effort, particularly regarding the act of thinking. You may also hear the colloquial expression Pas facile to mean something is not easy to accomplish or understand. For an informal way to say something is a struggle or very tough, you can use Galère.
Which one should you use?
While dur is often used for the colloquial or physical sense of hard, difficile is the standard word for difficult when you are referring to tasks or intellectual challenges.
Related words
How does it change in a sentence?
The adjective changes based on the gender of the noun it modifies. The masculine form is dur, but it becomes dure when modifying a feminine noun, such as la vie.
How do you pronounce it?
/dyʁ/
What mistakes should you avoid?
English speakers sometimes mistakenly use dur to mean difficult in formal writing. In those cases, you should use difficile instead.
Did you know?
- The colloquial term galère comes from the word for a 'galley', referring to the brutal labor of rowing an ancient slave ship.
- The expression avoir du mal is a common way to say one is having a hard time with something, even though it uses the noun 'mal' meaning 'pain' or 'evil'.
- A French speaker might say C'est dur! as a reaction to a sad story, expressing sympathy for a harsh reality, rather than commenting on the difficulty of the story itself.
Examples in context
- Tu bosses dur !You work hard!This sentence uses dur to describe working hard.Tatoeba #1509811 by martin9, translation #1728576 by belgavox
- Est-ce si dur ?Is it that hard?This sentence uses dur to ask if something is hard.Tatoeba #5594131 by Aiji, translation #2649016 by CK
- La vie est dure.Life is hard.This sentence uses dur to describe life being hard.Tatoeba #1310461 by sacredceltic, translation #630767 by CK
- J'ai trouvé le test très difficile.I found the test very hard.
- Ce projet demande un travail ardu.This project requires hard work.
- Le chemin de montagne était pénible à parcourir.The mountain trail was hard to navigate.
- Ce jeu est vraiment dur!This game is really hard!
- Les mathématiques, c'est pas facile.Mathematics, it's not easy.
- C'est vraiment une galère de trouver du travail actuellement.It's really hard to find a job at the moment.
- 1016 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Léa and Hugo are talking about a difficult exam.
- HugoL'examen de physique était dur, non ?The physics exam was hard, wasn't it?
- LéaOui, c'était vraiment dur pour moi.Yes, it was really hard for me.
- HugoTu as réussi quand même ?You passed anyway?
- LéaJe ne sais pas encore.I don't know yet.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “hard” translations and entries dur, difficile, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
