Daily life

be harder than it sounds

be more difficult than expected

If something is harder than it sounds, it is more difficult to do than people first expect from the description.

B2 common mostly spoken

expression

Hear it in real life

Can you fix the shelf yourself?

I thought I could, but it is harder than it sounds.

Play the conversation

Keeping a sourdough starter alive is harder than it sounds.

The mistake everyone makes

Not: I thought assembling the desk would be easy, but it was harder as it sounded.

Say: I thought assembling the desk would be easy, but it was harder than it sounded.

Use "harder than," not "harder as," in this comparison.

Build it

How it fits in a sentence.

something is harder than it sounds; it was harder than it sounded

Your turn: say it out loud

Keeping a sourdough starter alive is harder than it sounds.

Say it out loud two or three times, until it feels like yours.

be harder than it sounds

be more difficult than expected

“Keeping a sourdough starter alive is harder than it sounds.”

heytardy

Your turn on Facebook

Write one sentence with a phrase from this page

Post it in the comments. We reply to every one and fix it kindly.