Me es difícil hablar .. why "ME"?
Me es difícil hablar
It´s difficult for me to speak
I don't understand why there is a "me" here... Could someone explain this to me?
Thank you
3 Answers
I don't understand why there is a "me" here... Could someone explain this to me?
If by an explanation you mean something you are familiar with in English, then there is none. This "me" is something very peculiar in Spanish, but not so strange when you consider what an indirect object does: to implicate a third person or object into a scenario.
"Es difícil hablar" is a kind of impersonal sentence: "It is difficult to speak". This just happens, but not to anyone in particular; it just does. Once the "impersonal" (meaning: no one is to be blamed for it) set-up is laid out, we portray ourselves as "victims" of this problem by saying that we are affected by this difficulty in speaking. Spanish is a very good language to express things while refusing to acknowledging responsibilities.
Me es is a "construction". There are many "constructions" in Spanish. Rather than learning the why of them, which there is often none, it is better to just learn them.
Me es works with many adjectives but not all of them. Some sound weird but work and some don't work at all.
Me es difícil. (Me cuesta)
Me es fácil. (Para mí es fácil)
Me es grato.
Me es importante. (me importa)
Me es imposible. (me parece imposible)
Basically if it "seems" a certain way, then you could probably use "Me es" but of course it won't always work, a drawback to being non native. I say use it all the time with every adjective though, and see what works.
Para mi hablar es difícil.
