How would i say this? - I'm sorry it's taken me so long to reply

Question

Thanks =]

Answer 1

"Siento llevar tanto en responder" Replace "llevar" with "tardar". (compliments Lazarus1907)

cheers mate. x - samwells23, Nov 16, 2010

Lo siento, pero la frase es incorrecta gramaticalmente. - lazarus1907, Nov 16, 2010

Answer 2

"Siento llevar tanto en responder" is not right. When used like that "llevar" means "to carry". All the other answers are ok. "Disculpa por tardar en responder" is not exactly "I'm sorry it's taken me so long to reply", more accurate it will be if you said: "Disculpa por tardar TANTO en responder" or "Disculpa por tardarME TANTO en responder" ("tanto" is like "so long").

Regards.

I agree with Tania. - lazarus1907, Nov 16, 2010

Answer 3

Disculpe por haberme demorado en contestar

Answer 4

Hola:

Another option: "Siento mucho haberme demorado tanto en contestar."

Answer 5

"llevar" indeed means "to carry", or "to bring". But when used with "en" it has the meaning of "taking a certain amount of time" to do something. For example, ¿Cómo es que llevas tanto en regresar?" - "Why are you taking so long to return?" OR You can use tardar: "¿Cómo es que tardas tanto en regresar?" They are both correct.

And I disagree with you. The second one is perfect; the first one is debatable, but to me is unacceptable. - lazarus1907, Nov 16, 2010

Not trying to tell you that is wrong in a bad way, but I'm Spanish speaker and the first one it doesn't sound right, if you tell somebody that, it'll sound estrange - Carlangas04, Nov 16, 2010

What??? the first one is wrong, and besides doesnt sound right - Rey_Mysterio, Nov 17, 2010

Answer 6

Yes, it's fine. It will depend on the country the popular way to say it, but "Siento haber tardado tanto en responder" or "Disculpa por haber tardado tanto en responder" are both correct.

Good night

Answer 7

@Lazarus1907- Ohhh okok. Well, I stand corrected. Didn't mean to sound too conceited there. I was taught that "llevar" can be used in an instance like that, but I have verified and it's incorrect. Thanks Also, I saw that in correcting you used "disculpa" Can i use the verb "sentir" also? ("Siento tardar tanto.....")?

Answer 8

For example, ¿Cómo es que llevas tanto en regresar?" - "Why are you taking so long to return?" OR You can use tardar: "¿Cómo es que tardas tanto en regresar?" They are both correct.

I suppose you will tell me that where you live it sounds right. Well, I can assure you that many millions of speakers will think it is plain wrong, and grammars will back it up. The sentence sounds utterly wrong. If people are using it, eventually it might become mainstream and therefore, correct. But for the moment, it sounds horrible to me, as a native. Grammatically speaking, one verb is used syntactically wrong, and the prepositional use is incorrect too. If you want to call that right, well... we better not argue, but you seem pretty confident for someone whose first language is not Spanish. Even natives make mistakes, you know?

A possible fix for that sentence would be:

¿Cómo te ha llevado tanto (tiempo) volver/regresar?

Answer 9

just out of interest would disculpa por tardar en responder be ok?

you might want to squeeze in the "me" after "disculpa"- "disculpame por tardar en responder" - bunnaz, Nov 16, 2010

Yes, it would be correct. - lazarus1907, Nov 16, 2010