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Previous Next Up Topic Greek (& Greek-Related) Discussion / Questions, Questions / δύσκολος vs. σκληρός vs. βαρύς (256 hits)
- By Renee1717 Flag: us Date 2010-07-19 14:42
When these three words mean "hard" what is the difference between them?  There are different contexts like hard teacher, hard test, hard wall, hard heart...How do you know which one(s) to use?
Parent - By Simon Flag: wales Date 2010-07-19 21:37
I may be wrong, but I tend to think of δύσκολος as difficult, σκληρός as physically hard (though I think with a subsidiary meaning similar to δύσκολος) and βαρύς as hard in the sense of difficult to handle / heavy / beyond what is reasonable.

S.
Έτσι είναι η ζωή!
Parent - By brenda Flag: gb Date 2010-07-19 22:03
That's the way I think of those words, too.  But I hope a true "speaker of Greek" jumps in with his/her opinion.
Parent - By Simon Flag: wales Date 2010-07-21 21:35
Thinking about it, I'm sure I've seen "σληρός" used in the sense of a "hard person".

S.
Έτσι είναι η ζωή!
Parent - By brenda Flag: gb Date 2010-07-21 23:13
And I think I've seen δύσκολος used in the sense of a difficult person.  Somebody help!! We need more information!
Parent - By gumboot Flag: gb Date 2010-07-22 09:00
From the dictionary at http://dictionary.in.gr :

σκληρός εγκληματίας - "tough criminal" (in the sense of "hardened", I suspect)
δύσκολος χαρακτήρας - "difficult person"

I'm not sure there's any ambiguity there, to be honest - "tough criminal" refers to the criminal him/herself, whereas "difficult person" really means "person difficult to get on with" - the adjective refers to the act of getting on with someone, rather than the person themselves. Two different contexts, in which it's reasonable to expect two separate adjectives.

My understanding was that Simon's suggestions above are correct - but then I'm not a native speaker, I may have been getting it wrong for ages!
Parent - By Ο Ουαλλός Flag: wales Date 2010-07-23 18:19
γεια σ' όλους,

                        from the Oxford Learner's Dictionary, it appears that δύσκολος means mentally challenging) so that δύσκολη δουλειά is translated as "a tough proposition/difficult job". It gives ζόρικος (tricky/tough), δυσχερής (difficult/hard/awkward), επίπονος (laborious/exacting/demanding) as synonyms of δυσκολός. Σκληρός seems to mean "physically challenging, giving σκληρή δουλειά as "a physically hard job": but no synonyms here. Are we digging ourselves into a hole here?

Euryn
είμαστε εδώ για να βοηθά ο ένας τον άλλον
Parent By chrissyb Flag: gr Date 2010-07-26 12:02
...I would say Simon's explanation fairly sums it up....

I've definitely tried to describe my job as Σκληρή in the past only to have it corrected, because well sitting in front of a computer isn't is it?

...but work can be described as βαριά to mean difficult though - I assumed it meant like boring though...but I could be wrong....

....σκάβουμε μια τρύπα και ανοίγουμε ένα κουτί σκωλήκων να την γεμίσουμε... (...I bet that phrase doesn't exist in Greek)
δεν ήρθε και το τέλος του κόσμου!
Previous Next Up Topic Greek (& Greek-Related) Discussion / Questions, Questions / δύσκολος vs. σκληρός vs. βαρύς (256 hits)

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