All German word comparisons · Back to the topic overview
Meaning, sentence patterns and examples
| Word | Core meaning | Typical context | Grammar |
|---|---|---|---|
| schwer | heavy; difficult; serious | weight; demanding work; illness | schwerer; am schwersten |
| schwierig | difficult; complicated | problems; negotiations; people | schwieriger; am schwierigsten |
| hart | hard; tough; severe | materials; effort; conditions | härter; am härtesten |
schwer
Meaning and usage: Schwer refers to substantial weight, difficulty or seriousness. A schwerer Koffer weighs a lot; eine schwere Prüfung is difficult. It can also describe a serious illness or a difficult period of life. The noun and context choose the sense.
Grammar: Adjective: ein schwerer Koffer. Predicative schwer stays uninflected; comparative schwerer, superlative am schwersten. In Es fällt mir schwer, … zu, mir is dative and the infinitive states the difficult action.
Der Koffer ist schwer, deshalb nehme ich den Aufzug.
The suitcase is heavy, so I take the lift.
schwierig
Meaning and usage: Schwierig emphasizes difficulty in solving, managing or dealing with something. It works for questions, negotiations and circumstances. A schwieriger Mensch is someone hard to deal with, not a person whose body is heavy. It does not simply mean impossible.
Grammar: Adjective: eine schwierige Frage. Comparative schwieriger; superlative am schwierigsten. It can modify a noun or stand after sein without an adjective ending. No particular noun case is required by the adjective itself here.
Die Frage ist schwierig, weil wichtige Informationen fehlen.
The question is difficult because important information is missing.
hart
Meaning and usage: Hart describes a material that resists pressure or deformation. It also means tough, severe or demanding in contexts such as training, work, punishment or an experience. It does not normally replace schwierig in every intellectual-difficulty sentence.
Grammar: Adjective: ein harter Boden. Comparative härter; superlative am härtesten. Adverbial use has no ending: hart arbeiten. That phrase means working hard, not necessarily doing a complicated task.
Nach einer Stunde auf dem harten Stuhl tut mir der Rücken weh.
After an hour on the hard chair, my back hurts.
Overlap and context
Die Aufgabe ist schwer and die Aufgabe ist schwierig can express much the same difficulty. Hart may foreground demanding effort or a tough experience: das Training war hart. Eine schwere Krankheit concerns seriousness, not weight. A hard-working person may work hart at an easy but tiring task. Learn the whole noun phrase rather than giving each adjective only one English translation.
Common mistakes
- Do not call a heavy bag schwierig when you mean its weight.
- Hart arbeiten and schwierige Arbeit describe different aspects: effort versus difficulty.
- The comparative of hart has an umlaut: härter.
Memory aid: Weight or broad difficulty: schwer. A problem to solve or manage: schwierig. Firm material or tough effort: hart.
Try it
You cannot easily lift a suitcase because of its weight. Complete: Der Koffer ist ___.
Show the answer
schwer
This sentence concerns heaviness, not a complicated problem.