下功夫

xiàgōngfū

phrase HSK 7-9 #25,169

Meanings

学好中文要下功夫。

Xué hǎo Zhōngwén yào xiàgōngfū.

Learning Chinese well requires putting in effort.

她在这道菜上下了不少功夫。

Tā zài zhè dào cài shàngxià le bùshǎo gōngfū.

She put a lot of effort into this dish.

grammar

下功夫 is a verb-object (离合词) structure. 功夫 can be separated: 下了很大的功夫, 下了不少功夫. Use 在...上 to specify what you're putting effort into.

usage

功夫 here means 'effort/time spent', not martial arts. Compare: 花功夫 (spend effort) is similar but less common than 下功夫.

下 xià

功 gōng

夫 fū