Discussion Groups / ESL Teaching / June 2005

"Have a hard time" generally means that something is difficult.

It's often "somebody has a hard time doing something" or "sby has a
hard time with sth."

I have a hard time learning foreign languages. (It's difficult for me.)
I have a hard time with arithmetic. (The subhect is difficult for me.)

There are variants.

Jane had a hard time in prison. (Prison was difficult for her.)
He had a hard time at school. (School was difficult for him.)

Now, exactly WHY something was difficult is not often part of the
idiom, but many times, the use of the idiom connotes that something was
difficult because other people made it difficult, not because it was
inherently difficult.

He had a hard time in the military when it became known that he was
gay.
(People made life life difficult.

A further variant of the idiom is more often used in British English
than in other varieties (to my American sensibilities), thus:

He had a hard time of it in the military when it became known he was
gay.

You might also say "rough time" with very little change in meaning.

I cannot claim that this is a comprehensive list and there may be other
variants that don't come to mind at the moment.