Ease and difficulty (have svært / let ved at)

Having Difficulty

When you want to describe that something requires effort or doesn't come naturally, Danish uses the phrase have svært ved at followed by an infinitive verb. It translates directly to "having a hard time" or "having difficulty" doing something.

The boy has a hard time focusing on the math.
Drengen har svært ved at fokusere på matematikken.
I have a hard time expressing myself on the instrument.
Jeg har svært ved at udtrykke mig på instrumentet.

Finding It Easy

Conversely, to say that a task or skill comes naturally to you, use the phrase have let ved at followed by the infinitive. This is the natural way to express "finding it easy to" or "having an easy time" doing something in Danish.

The girl finds it easy to read the text about physics.
Pigen har let ved at læse teksten om fysikken.
We find it easy to understand the chemistry in class.
Vi har let ved at forstå kemien i undervisningen.

Changing the Tense

When you want to talk about how easy or difficult something was in the past, you only change the tense of the main verb. Simply conjugate have into its past tense form, havde, and keep the rest of the phrase exactly the same.

Yesterday she found it easy to understand the physics.
I går havde hun let ved at forstå fysikken.
Two years ago, the boy had a hard time expressing himself.
For to år siden havde drengen svært ved at udtrykke sig.
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