🗓️ Idiom: Give Someone a Hard Time (v)
💬 Meaning
- To tease, criticise, or make things difficult for someone, often jokingly.
- In the workplace, it can mean playfully challenging or complaining to a colleague.
🧠 Example Sentences
- The team gave Sam a hard time for forgetting to bring the presentation slides.
- She gives her manager a hard time whenever the coffee machine breaks down.
- Don’t give the new intern a hard time, they’re still learning the ropes.
🏛️ Origin
The phrase “give someone a hard time” has been used since the 1800s to mean causing difficulty or discomfort. In modern English, it often means teasing or lightly criticising, especially among friends or coworkers.
📝 Practice Exercises
1. Fill in the blank:
When I arrived late to the meeting, my boss really ________ about it.
Answer
gave me a hard time
2. Multiple choice:
If you “give someone a hard time,” you:
a) Praise them for their work
b) Make things difficult or tease them
c) Offer them extra help
Answer
b) Make things difficult or tease them
3. Change the sentence using “give someone a hard time”:
“They teased her for sending the wrong email.”
Answer
They gave her a hard time for sending the wrong email.
ℹ️ Other Useful Pages
📚 Learning Resources
👉 Idioms for Humour in the Workplace
👉 Business English Idioms List
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Rob is a CELTA qualified English teacher with 15 years of international experience. He has a BSc and PGDip from Loughborough and St Andrews universities in the UK. He has taught in Thailand and Saudi Arabia and now works with professionals worldwide.
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