If we have problems or difficulties, we often want to talk about them. But what different ways are there to do this? Here, we take a look at how to use the words problem and difficulty - as well as other expressions with the same meaning.
Problems
We often talk about problems in general: you could have health problems (= you're not in good health), money problems (= you're worried about not having enough money) or you might have problems with your car or your computer.
If you have a certain problem, it's usually a good idea to face up to it (= recognize that it exists):
- Frank is getting further and further into debt, but he refuses to face up to the problem.
Then, you need to tackle or deal with the problem (= take action):
- We've just received this complaint. Do you have time to deal with it?
If all goes well, you may be able to solve or get round the problem (= find an answer to it):
- We couldn't find a removal company, but we got round the problem by hiring a van.
Difficulties
You can run (or get) into difficulties or find yourself in difficulties (= get into a difficult situation):
- The waves were huge, and the boat soon got into difficulties.
For a particular problem, you usually say have difficulty doing something (not "have difficulties"). Imagine you bought a new computer, but you couldn't set it up. You might say:
- I had difficulty setting it up.
…or:
- I found it difficult to set it up.
You could also use the word trouble here:
- I had trouble setting the computer up.
And instead of "difficult", you could also say hard:
- I found it hard to set the computer up.