使(つか)いにくい

つかいにくい

i-adjective

hard to use; awkward to handle; user-unfriendly

Conjugation

	Affirmative	Negative
Present	使(つか)いにくい	使(つか)いにくくない
Past	使(つか)いにくかった	使(つか)いにくくなかった
て form	使(つか)いにくくて	使(つか)いにくくなくて
Adverbial	使(つか)いにくく	—
Conditional ば	使(つか)いにくければ	使(つか)いにくくなければ
Conditional たら	使(つか)いにくかったら	使(つか)いにくくなかったら

1. hard to use; awkward to handle; inconvenient

Describes a tool, device, software, or space that works but is troublesome or unintuitive in practice. Formed from 使(つか)う plus the suffix 〜にくい (difficult to do).

このハサミは使(つか)いにくい。

These scissors are hard to use.

新(あたら)しいアプリは使(つか)いにくくて困(こま)っている。

The new app is user-unfriendly and it's giving me trouble.

台所(だいどころ)が狭(せま)くて使(つか)いにくいので、棚(たな)の位置(いち)を変(か)えることにした。

The kitchen is cramped and awkward to use, so we decided to move the shelves.

The suffix 〜にくい attaches to a verb stem to mean "hard to do." It describes the object's own inconvenience, not the speaker's lack of skill.

Common collocations

使(つか)いにくい道具(どうぐ): an awkward tool
使(つか)いにくいソフト: unwieldy software
使(つか)いにくくなる: to become hard to use
ちょっと使(つか)いにくい: a bit inconvenient to use

Similar words

使(つか)いやすい: easy to use — the direct opposite
不便(ふべん)な: inconvenient — about a situation or arrangement, not about handling an object
扱(あつか)いにくい: hard to handle — also used of people who are difficult to deal with

Related Words

Antonym: 使(つか)いやすい (easy to use)

Compare: 不便(ふべん) (inconvenient)

general

Added 2026.8.5 9:20 · Revised 2026.9.2 13:02

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