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A: A is drinking cups of coffee nonstop in the kitchen.

B: What the hell! You trying to make your heart explode?

A: I am loading up on coffee. Because it is a pain in the ass getting to the kitchen and I don't want to come back here.

I quoted this dialogue from an american sitcom.

This sentence's construction seems little different to me. I suppose "getting to the kitchen" refers to "it".

I think I can rewrite it as in sentence 2:

2- ...Because getting to the kitchen is a pain in the ass and I don't want to come back here.

Can I use sentence 3 too?

3- ...Because it is a pain in the ass which is getting to the kitchen and I don't want to come back here.

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You're exactly correct.

  • "it" means "getting to the kitchen"
  • It's exactly the same in meaning as "Because getting to the kitchen is a pain in the ass and I don't want to come back here."

Sentence 3 is ungrammatical.

Be aware: a) this is very informal: "You trying to make your heart explode?" instead of standard English: "Are you trying ...", b) you wouldn't use "Pain in the ass" or "what the hell" except in very informal circumstances, c) "ass" marks this as American English.

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  • Thank you. Is this sentence- "...Because getting to the kitchen is a pain in the ass and I don't want to come back here." - more formal than the original one?
    – Talha Özden
    Jul 15, 2019 at 15:45
  • Not really: almost nothing with "ass" will be formal. "Because getting to the X is irritating/difficult/boring/expensive/slow and I don't want to come back here."
    – jonathanjo
    Jul 15, 2019 at 16:07
  • Thanks. I wonder why speakers use original one instead of sentence 2? - "...Because getting to the kitchen is a pain in the ass and I don't want to come back here." - more formal than the original one? - Because it is shorter and more direct than the original one.
    – Talha Özden
    Jul 15, 2019 at 18:40
  • It might help to think of these: "Because it's raining. Because it's boring. Because it's irritating. Because it's fun. Because it's illogical." All are normal answers to why you do/don't want to do something. You can find a thing to say is "it" (the weather, the action, the reason) but it probably better to learn them as "reason templates".
    – jonathanjo
    Jul 15, 2019 at 19:10
  • Lastly, can I use "to- infinitive" as well? - "... Because it is a pain in the ass to get to the kitchen and I don't want to come back here.
    – Talha Özden
    Jul 15, 2019 at 19:27

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