Let's learn about "얽히고 설키다"

일이 얽히고 설켜서 풀기가 어렵다 : It's hard to solve because things are tangled up

[other expressions]

- 일이 얽히고 설켜서 풀기가 어렵다. (to younger people or friends)

- 일이 얽히고 설켜서 풀기가 어렵네. (to younger people or friends)

- 일이 얽히고 설켜서 풀기가 어려워. (to younger people or friends)

- 일이 얽히고 설켜서 풀기가 어렵네요. (honourific by ‘-요’)

- 일이 얽히고 설켜서 풀기가 어려워요. (honourific by ‘-요’)

- 일이 얽히고 설켜서 풀기가 어렵습니다. (formal; more honourific by ‘스’)

[explanations]

* 일 : (문제) matter, affair, concern

* -이 : a particle makes 일 the topic of the sentence after a word ends in a consonant

* 얽히다 : [Pronunciation: 얼키다] (1) (줄 등이) get tangled, become entangled (in), tangle (up) (2) (사건·사정 등이) be involved in, get entangled (in sthwith sb), be entwined (with), be concerned (with/in); [=관련되다] be related (to)

* 읽히고 : 얽히(the stem of 얽히다) + -고(and)

* 설키다 : (1) [=가는 것이 이리저리 뒤섞이다] be mixed up (2) [=관계, 일, 감정 따위가 이리저리 복잡하게 되다]  complicate relationships, work, emotions, etc --> this should be used with 얽히다 as the form of 얽히고 설키다

* 설켜서 : 설키(the stem of 설키다) + -어서/-아서/-여서(because; because of)

* 풀다 : solve

* 풀기 : a noun form of 풀다 by '-기'

* -가 : a particle makes 일 the topic of the sentence after a word ends in a vowel

* 어려운 : (1) (이해하거나 해결하기가) difficult, hard (2) [=힘들고 곤란하다] hard, difficult, tough (3) 형편·생활 등이) (financially) difficult, poor, needy

* 어렵다 : a verb form of 어려운

* 어려워 : 어렵(the stem of 어렵다; ㅂ changed into 우) + -어(a non-honourific descriptive verb ending suffix)

* ㅂ 불규칙 : the ㅂ of 어렵다 is not 'B' sound but 'V' sound and V consists of ㅂ + 옛이응  ‘ㆁ’. these days  V sound changed into '우' for easy pronunciation

* See : https://m.blog.naver.com/nurisejong/221050681781

* 어렵습니다 : 어렵(the stem of 어렵다) + 스(a suffix makes a verb more honourific) + -ㅂ니다(an honourific descriptive verb ending suffix)

* a verb + -네 /  -어 : a non-honourific descriptive verb ending suffix

* a verb + -어 + -요 : an honourific verb ending suffix

* a verb + -습니다 / -ㅂ니다 : an honourific descriptive verb ending suffix by ‘-습-‘ / '-ㅂ'