What does difficulté in French mean?

What is the meaning of the word difficulté in French? The article explains the full meaning, pronunciation along with bilingual examples and instructions on how to use difficulté in French.

The word difficulté in French means difficulty, complication, complexity, difficulty, problem, difficulty, trouble, difficulty, problem, difficulty, friction, with difficulty, have difficulty + [infinitive], there's no difficulty there, breathing difficulties, breathing problems, student who is struggling, in difficulty, in great difficulty, young person in difficulty, put in a difficult position, put yourself in a difficult position, put yourself in an awkward position, not without difficulty, encounter a difficulty, without difficulty. To learn more, please see the details below.

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Meaning of the word difficulté

difficulty, complication, complexity

nom féminin (complexité)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)
La difficulté de ce chantier surprend l'ingénieur.
The engineer is surprised by the complexity of the site.

difficulty, problem

nom féminin (souci, problème)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)
Nous aurons beaucoup de difficultés avec ce dossier.
We will have a lot of difficulties with this case.

difficulty, trouble

nom féminin (problème, gêne) (often singular)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)
Il a encore des difficultés pour bien parler.
He is still having difficulty speaking properly.

difficulty, problem

nom féminin (problème à comprendre [qch])

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)
Ces élèves ont toujours eu des difficultés en français.
These students have always had difficulties in French.

difficulty, friction

nom féminin (problème relationnel)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)
Il y a de nombreuses difficultés entre le patron et les employés.
There is a lot of friction between the boss and the employees.

with difficulty

locution adverbiale (avec du mal, difficilement)

(adverb: Describes a verb, adjective, adverb, or clause--for example, "come quickly," "very rare," "happening now," "fall down.")
Encore choqués, ils s'exprimaient avec difficulté.

have difficulty + [infinitive]

locution verbale (avoir du mal à)

(verbal expression: Phrase with special meaning functioning as verb--for example, "put their heads together," "come to an end.")
Il a de la difficulté à commencer son nouveau projet.

there's no difficulty there

(ce n'est pas difficile)

breathing difficulties, breathing problems

nom féminin (problème à respirer)

(plural noun: Noun always used in plural form--for example, "jeans," "scissors.")
Suite à une allergie, elle présente des difficultés respiratoires. Elle souffre d'une difficulté respiratoire passagère à cause d'une bronchite.

student who is struggling

nom masculin et féminin (élève apprenant péniblement)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)

in difficulty

locution adjectivale (qui rencontre des problèmes)

in great difficulty

locution adjectivale (qui a énormément de mal à faire [qch])

young person in difficulty

nom masculin et féminin (jeune en difficulté sociale)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)

put in a difficult position

locution verbale (poser problème à [qqn])

(transitive verb: Verb taking a direct object--for example, "Say something." "She found the cat.")

put yourself in a difficult position, put yourself in an awkward position

(aller au devant de problèmes)

(verbal expression: Phrase with special meaning functioning as verb--for example, "put their heads together," "come to an end.")

not without difficulty

locution adverbiale (difficilement)

(adverb: Describes a verb, adjective, adverb, or clause--for example, "come quickly," "very rare," "happening now," "fall down.")

encounter a difficulty

locution verbale (avoir affaire à un problème)

without difficulty

locution adverbiale (facilement)

(adverb: Describes a verb, adjective, adverb, or clause--for example, "come quickly," "very rare," "happening now," "fall down.")

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So now that you know more about the meaning of difficulté in French, you can learn how to use them through selected examples and how to read them. And remember to learn the related words that we suggest. Our website is constantly updating with new words and new examples so you can look up the meanings of other words you don't know in French.

Related words of difficulté

Do you know about French

French (le français) is a Romance language. Like Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish, it comes from popular Latin, once used in the Roman Empire. A French-speaking person or country can be called a "Francophone". French is the official language in 29 countries. French is the fourth most spoken native language in the European Union. French ranks third in the EU, after English and German, and is the second most widely taught language after English. The majority of the world's French-speaking population lives in Africa, with about 141 million Africans from 34 countries and territories who can speak French as a first or second language. French is the second most widely spoken language in Canada, after English, and both are official languages at the federal level. It is the first language of 9.5 million people or 29% and the second language of 2.07 million people or 6% of the entire population of Canada. In contrast to other continents, French has no popularity in Asia. Currently, no country in Asia recognizes French as an official language.