Speakur

Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

give someone a hard time

Word Rarity Common

Frequency: Zipf frequency 5.11 in modern English

Syllables
give -some-one a hard -time
IPA
32
Scrabble Score
20
Letters
4
Syllables
13
Unique Chars

Meaning

verb

To cause difficulty or make trouble for someone.

Informal

verb

To tease, kid or rib someone.

Informal

Example Sentences

Usage

Inflected Forms

gives someone a hard time (present, singular) giving someone a hard time (participle, present) gave someone a hard time (past) given someone a hard time (participle, past)

Questions

What does give someone a hard time mean?
To cause difficulty or make trouble for someone.

How to pronounce give someone a hard time

  1. Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “give someone a hard time”.
  2. Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling () so you know which sounds to aim for.
  3. Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “give someone a hard time”.
  4. Repeat and practice — Say “give someone a hard time” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.