Costar Dios y ayuda

to be incredibly difficult; **to be incredibly difficult**; **to take a huge amount of effort**; **to be a real struggle**; **to take forever and a day** (in some contexts); **to be an uphill battle**

Costar Dios y ayuda means to be extremely difficult, require enormous effort or take a great deal of work to accomplish.

It emphasises the hardship involved rather than the final result.

• a task is exceptionally difficult
• learning something takes great effort
• solving a problem proves very complicated
• progress is painfully slow
• success is achieved only after considerable struggle

The expression dates back several centuries.

It reflects the traditional idea that certain tasks are so difficult that they require both God's intervention and human help.

Over time, the phrase lost most of its religious force and became a fixed idiom meaning "with enormous difficulty."

Modern speakers rarely think about the religious element.

For most Spaniards, Dios y ayuda simply intensifies the meaning, much like saying "an enormous amount" or "a tremendous effort."

The expression is especially common among older speakers but remains widely understood and used across generations.

Spanish has many expressions that intensify the idea of effort:

• Costar Dios y ayuda → to be an uphill battle.
• Costar un mundo → to be very difficult.
• Costar sangre, sudor y lágrimas → to cost blood, sweat and tears.
• Sudar la gota gorda → to work extremely hard.

Among them, costar Dios y ayuda is one of the oldest and most colourful ways of expressing that something required extraordinary effort.

Do not translate the expression literally.

English speakers would never say:

It cost God and help.

Instead, use expressions such as:

• It took a huge amount of effort.
• It was an uphill battle.
• It was incredibly difficult.
• It was a real struggle.

The focus is on the exceptional difficulty of the task.