die Mühe
effort
The effort or expenditure of physical or mental energy required to complete a difficult task.
EXAMPLE
Die ganze Mühe hat sich am Ende gelohnt.
All the effort was worth it in the end.
die Mühe
effort / trouble
Checking...
Loading your saved state.
Meanings
sich die Mühe machen
to take the trouble
To take on the effort of doing something, often as a sign of care or to make someone happy.
EXAMPLE
Er hat sich die Mühe gemacht, für alle Gäste persönlich zu kochen.
He took the trouble to cook personally for all the guests.
Mühe haben
to have difficulty
To have difficulty doing or achieving something.
EXAMPLE
Ich habe große Mühe, mich bei dem Lärm zu konzentrieren.
I have great difficulty concentrating with all the noise.
Usage tips
Word family
'Die Mühe' (effort/trouble) belongs to a word family with the adjectives 'mühsam' (laborious/arduous) and 'mühevoll' (painstaking/laborious). All of these words describe an activity that requires a lot of effort and energy.
EXAMPLE
Der Aufstieg auf den Berg war sehr mühsam.
The climb up the mountain was very arduous.
Typical collocations
'Mühe' (effort/trouble) is often used in fixed expressions. Very common ones are 'sich Mühe geben' (to make an effort), 'sich die Mühe lohnen' (the effort was worth it), and to manage something 'ohne Mühe' (without effort/easily).
EXAMPLE
Wenn du dir in der Schule Mühe gibst, wirst du gute Noten bekommen.
If you make an effort at school, you will get good grades.
Sentence structure
The expression 'sich die Mühe machen' (to take the trouble) is reflexive and is often expanded with an infinitive construction with 'zu'. The person making the effort does it for themselves, so 'sich' is in the dative.
EXAMPLE
Sie hat sich die Mühe gemacht, einen Kuchen für mich zu backen.
She took the trouble to bake a cake for me.
Sentence structure
The expression 'Mühe haben' (to have difficulty) is often used with an infinitive construction with 'zu' or with the preposition 'mit' + dative. It expresses that an action is difficult.
EXAMPLE
Ältere Menschen haben oft Mühe, die moderne Technik zu verstehen.
Older people often have difficulty understanding modern technology.
Compare with
Mühe vs Arbeit
work
Arbeit and Mühe can both refer to the effort required for a difficult activity. Arbeit focuses more on the task or the objective amount of work, while Mühe highlights the effort someone personally experiences. Use Mühe when you want to emphasize how much effort someone had to put into something.
Mühe
Für den Bericht musste ich mir viel Mühe geben.
I had to put a lot of effort into the report.
Arbeit
Für die Arbeit an dem Bericht brauchte ich drei Stunden.
It took me three hours to work on the report.
In real life
Loading video examples...