A veces me cuesta levantarme temprano, pero sé que hay que hacerlo.

Sometimes it’s hard for me to get up early, but I know I have to do it.

Breakdown of A veces me cuesta levantarme temprano, pero sé que hay que hacerlo.

• yo: I
• temprano: early
• que: that
• a veces: sometimes
• me: to me
• hacer: to do
• saber: to know
• lo: it
• levantarse: to get up
• pero: but
• costar: to be hard
• haber que: to have to

Questions & Answers about A veces me cuesta levantarme temprano, pero sé que hay que hacerlo.

What does me cuesta mean here, and how is it different from just saying es difícil para mí?

Me cuesta literally comes from costar = “to cost,” but in this structure it means “is hard for me / I find it difficult.”

• A veces me cuesta levantarme temprano ≈ “Sometimes it’s hard for me to get up early / I find it hard to get up early.”

Structure:

• [Indirect object pronoun] + costar + [infinitive / noun]
  • Me cuesta levantarme temprano. – It’s hard (for me) to get up early.
  • A Juan le cuesta estudiar por la noche. – It’s hard (for Juan) to study at night.

You can say:

• A veces es difícil para mí levantarme temprano.

That’s correct, but:

• me cuesta sounds more natural and colloquial, and focuses more on the effort/struggle you personally feel.
• es difícil para mí sounds a bit more formal or textbook-ish in everyday conversation.

Why is levantarme written as one word with -me attached, and not levantar me?

Me is a reflexive pronoun (“myself”), and in Spanish reflexive and object pronouns are often attached to infinitives:

• levantarme = levantar + me = “to get myself up”
• You cannot write levantar me with a space.

With an infinitive, you have two correct options for pronoun placement:

• No quiero levantarme temprano.
• No me quiero levantar temprano.

Both mean: “I don’t want to get up early.”
Attaching -me is very common and sounds completely natural.

Why do you say levantarme (reflexive) instead of just levantar?

Because in Spanish:

• levantar (non‑reflexive) = “to lift / raise (something or someone)”
  
  • Levanto la mano. – I raise my hand.
  • Levanto la caja. – I lift the box.
• levantarse (reflexive) = “to get up (yourself, from bed, a chair, etc.)”
  
  • Me levanto a las 7. – I get up at 7.

In levantarme temprano, the idea is “to get myself up early,” so you must use the reflexive form levantarse → levantarme.

Could you say levantarme pronto instead of levantarme temprano? What’s the difference between temprano and pronto?

In this context, you normally do not say levantarme pronto.

• temprano = “early” (at an early time)
  
  • Levantarme temprano – to get up early
  • Llegué temprano. – I arrived early.
• pronto usually = “soon” or “quickly”:
  
  • Vuelvo pronto. – I’ll be back soon.
  • Hazlo pronto. – Do it quickly.

In some contexts pronto can overlap with “early” (e.g. llegar muy pronto “arrive very early”), but the natural, standard way to say “get up early” is:

• levantarse temprano, not levantarse pronto.

Why does sé have an accent here? Is it the same word as se?

No, they are different words:

• sé (with accent) = “I know”, from the verb saber.
  
  • Yo sé que… – I know that…
• se (no accent) can be:
  • a reflexive pronoun: se levanta – he/she gets up
  • part of impersonal or passive constructions: se habla español – Spanish is spoken

In the sentence pero sé que hay que hacerlo, sé is “I know” (first person singular of saber), so it must have the accent mark.

What does hay que hacerlo mean exactly, and how is hay que different from tengo que or debemos?

hay que + infinitive expresses a general / impersonal obligation:

• Hay que hacerlo. ≈ “It has to be done / One has to do it / You have to do it (in general).”
• There is no specific subject (no “I/you/we” stated).

Compare:

• Tengo que hacerlo. – I have to do it.
• Tenemos que hacerlo. – We have to do it.
• Debemos hacerlo. – We ought to / we should do it (more “moral” duty).

So in the original sentence:

• sé que hay que hacerlo = “I know (in general / people / we) have to do it,” not necessarily only “I” alone.

In hacerlo, what does lo refer to, and can that pronoun go anywhere else?

In hay que hacerlo:

• hacer = “to do (it)”
• lo = “it,” referring back to the whole idea of levantarme temprano (getting up early).
  
  • Literally: “I know that one has to do it.”
  • “It” = that action you just mentioned.

About position:

• The most natural, standard form is hay que hacerlo (pronoun attached to the infinitive).
• Grammatically, Spanish allows Lo hay que hacer, but in everyday Latin American speech it sounds unusual or very formal/old‑fashioned.

As a learner, stick to:

• hay que hacerlo, not sé que lo hay que hacer.

Why is pero used here instead of sino?

pero and sino both translate as “but”, but they are used differently.

• pero = “but / however,” adds or contrasts information:
  
  • Me gusta, pero es caro. – I like it, but it’s expensive.
• sino = “but rather / but instead,” used only after a negative, to correct or replace what came before:
  
  • No quiero café, sino té. – I don’t want coffee, but (rather) tea.

In your sentence:

• A veces me cuesta levantarme temprano, pero sé que hay que hacerlo.

The first part is not negative, so you cannot use sino. You must use pero.

Could you also say A veces es difícil levantarme temprano? Is there any difference from A veces me cuesta levantarme temprano?

Yes, you can say:

• A veces es difícil levantarme temprano.

Both sentences are correct and mean almost the same thing.

Nuance:

• es difícil levantarme temprano – slightly more neutral/description-like: “it’s difficult for me to get up early.”
• me cuesta levantarme temprano – feels a bit more personal and colloquial, as if emphasizing the effort it takes you.

In everyday speech, me cuesta + infinitive is extremely common.

Is A veces the same as Algunas veces or De vez en cuando?

They’re very close in meaning:

• A veces – “sometimes”
• Algunas veces – also “sometimes”; often a bit more explicit / slightly more formal, but very similar in use.
• De vez en cuando – “from time to time / every now and then”; often suggests a bit less frequent than plain a veces, but in casual speech they can overlap.

All of these could work in the sentence:

• A veces me cuesta levantarme temprano…
• Algunas veces me cuesta levantarme temprano…
• De vez en cuando me cuesta levantarme temprano…

Does A veces have to go at the beginning, or can it move in the sentence?

It can move. Common options:

• A veces me cuesta levantarme temprano.
• Me cuesta levantarme temprano a veces.

Both are grammatically correct and natural.
Placing A veces at the beginning is very typical and slightly emphasizes the “sometimes” idea. Putting it at the end is also common in speech.