What is the diffence between rato and tiempo?

Question

I want to know about how and which situation can we use such words rato and tiempo. plz explain me

Great question Iw ould like to know too :) Voting :) - FELIZ77, Dec 30, 2010

Answer 1

Yes.. 'Rato' is a small amount of time, which depending on the context it could be short (just a few minutes), or several hours long. A 'rato' can never last longer than a few hours though. Although it's not mandatory, it is frequently used to describe the duration of human activities (studying, dating, playing, working..). You would use it in sentences such as these:

-I'm going to swim for a while, do you want to come with me? 'Voy a nadar un rato, ¿vienes conmigo?

-I had a really good time 'He pasado un rato muy bueno'

-After cooking it well, let it rest for a while before serving. 'Después de cocinarlo bien, déjalo reposar un rato antes de servirlo'

On the other side, 'tiempo' is a more generic word to describe any period of time, and it doesn't have to be as short as a 'rato'. For example:

'Mary and I were separated for almost a year. During that time we dated other people' > 'María y yo estuvimos separados casi un año. Durante ese tiempo, salimos con otras personas'

'In the time it takes to say 'hi' I could have knocked you out cold' 'En el tiempo que se tarda en decir 'hola' te podría haber dejado fuera de combate'

'I hadn't seen him in years. After all this time, he hasn't changed a bit'. 'No lo había visto en años. Después de todo este tiempo, no ha cambiado nada'.

Thank you Bill, that was well explained and it made it very clear for me. - ray76, Dec 30, 2010

Answer 2

I believe that "rato" usually refers to a relatively short period of time. If someone asks you: "¿Vas a ir a la fiesta?" and you say: "Iré un rato", that would mean that you're only planning to be at the party for a short time. If, on the other hand, you said: "Viví un tiempo en Los Ángeles", that would imply that you had lived in Los Angeles for a longer period of time, maybe months or years.

You can talk about "un rato largo", which would mean a longer short period of time, if you understand what I mean. "Un rato largo" could be measured in minutes or hours, but would never be days, weeks or years, so you could say "Pasé un rato largo esperando el doctor".

I hope I didn't confuse the issue further!

Good, clear answer more or less consistent with Bill's response :) He said that tiempo is for time in general - FELIZ77, Dec 30, 2010

Answer 3

I think that rato means a smal or given amount of time and tiempo means time in general.

:) - FELIZ77, Dec 30, 2010