叫苦连天

jiào kǔ lián tiān

to complain bitterly; to moan non-stop

Character by character

叫jiào
cry

苦kǔ
bitterness

连lián
join

天tiān
sky

这次考试题目太难，学生们一个个叫苦连天。

The exam questions were so hard that the students moaned and groaned one after another.

Tone: neutral.

Complaints so loud and long they reach the sky. Usually describes a group (工人, 学生, 网友) groaning about heat, workload or prices, rarely oneself.

Learn this in Lesson 19 · HSK 5: 放假与调休 (Public holidays and swapped weekends)

A dialogue, a reading, word cards with audio and a drill that uses it, in Learn Chinese with Bao. The first lessons of every level are free.