give someone a hard time
give someone a hard time verb: to cause difficulty or make trouble for someone.
Verb
give someone a hard time (third-person singular simple present gives someone a hard time, present participle giving someone a hard time, simple past gave someone a hard time, past participle given someone a hard time)
- To cause difficulty or make trouble for someone.
- During WWII, German troops gave the Allies a hard time in Italy, but eventually the Allies broke through.
- To tease, kid or rib someone.
- He's usually pretty good-natured when the children give him a hard time about his bald spot.
Forms of give someone a hard time
| third-person singular present | gives someone a hard time |
|---|---|
| present participle | giving someone a hard time |
| past | gave someone a hard time |
| past participle | given someone a hard time |
Questions about give someone a hard time
- What does give someone a hard time mean?
- Give someone a hard time means to cause difficulty or make trouble for someone.
- What part of speech is give someone a hard time?
- Give someone a hard time is a verb.
- What is the past tense of give someone a hard time?
- The past tense of give someone a hard time is gave someone a hard time.
Words near give someone a hard time in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: give someone a hard time (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-give someone a hard time.ogg.
Cite this entry: “give someone a hard time.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/give_someone_a_hard_time. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.