Hello and I'm here and welcome to the English we speak, where we explain phrases used by fluent English speakers so that you can use them too.

I'm Fay Faye and I'm here with Phil.

Hello, how are you, Faye?

Have you been busy?

How can you tell?

Yes, I have.

I've been trying to sort out all the photos I've taken over the last few years,

but there are so many. many choosing which ones to print out really

is an uphill task. I don't even want to think about sorting out the pictures on my

phone but I do want to think about that phrase you used, an uphill task. We use

it to talk about something difficult.

So think about walking up a steep hill. It takes a lot of energy and effort, doesn't it? So an uphill

task is something that's difficult and takes a lot of energy. I've literally got thousands of pictures to sort through.

That definitely sounds like an uphill task. Any task that looks difficult and takes a lot of

determination to complete can be an uphill task. We often use it

when there's something working against us. So if I fix something in my home there's

always something else that goes wrong straight afterwards

keeping everything okay just feels like an uphill task. Oh Phil you're doing

really well dealing with all the uphill tasks in life. Here are some more examples of people using an uphill

task.

Sorting out my unread emails is such an uphill task. As soon as I delete the ones I haven't read, more come in.

I'm going on holiday next week and I've got so much to do before I go.

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