How do you say takes with tardar?

Question

I thought I had a handle on tardar but Cogumela says I am wrong when I say

Tarda una hora en lavar mi coche.

Our dictionary says:

tardó un año en hacerlo -> she took a year to do it

and

tardó en darse cuenta -> it took him a while o he took a while to realize

and

tardar en hacer algo -> to take a long time to do something

I've used it like this a lot so

Tarda una hora en lavar mi coche.

seems to make sense to me.

But she said it needs to be "Lleva una hora lavar mi coche" using llevar.

I know llevar can mean takes..... but is tardar always wrong to mean takes too?

I guess I don't see what is wrong with "Tarda una hora en" as a construction or "Tarda una hora en lavar mi coche" but I would like to know so I can learn thanks.

Great question Jeezle :) Thank you :0 We can all learn from the response from Coguand otehr natives in particular :) - FELIZ77, Jan 4, 2012

Good question! - MLucie, Jan 4, 2012

Answer 1

Hi Jeezz;

Tarda una hora en ... means = It takes him/ her an hour to...

To say it in an impersonal way, as in "it takes an hour to..." you need a "se"

Se tarda una hora en...

However, we prefer using llevar in this case. The construction "se tarda unha hora en lavar mi coche" doesn't sound very natural to me.

But with llevar you don't use "en"? Just "se tarda una hora en lavar mi coche" (unnatural sounding) or "lleva una hora lavar mi coche" (no en) right? Gracias. - jeezzle, Jan 4, 2012

Yes, that's it - cogumela, Jan 4, 2012

ah, one thing. "Se tarda una hora en" is very common when you are speaking about reaching a place, for example: desde aquí se tarda una hora en llegar a Madrid - cogumela, Jan 4, 2012

But it certainly doesn't sound natural with an activity like washing a car. - cogumela, Jan 4, 2012

Answer 2

Cogumela is right, of course, and Izanoni is along the right track.

Where I differ with Cogumela again is on a probable cultural difference in how the construction is used.

For me, the following expressions are perfectly natural:

Me tardo una hora lavando mi carro.

Jeezle se tarda una hora lavando su coche.

Now, get this: on my side of the world it is ok to say: "El chico se tarda una hora en lavar mi carro." But it is not ok to just make the statement "Tarda una hora en lavar mi coche." This one should be either: "Lavar mi coche tarda una hora" or, "Él / ella se tarda una hora en lavar mi coche" - or "Lleva una hora lavar mi coche" You can say (around here at least) "Tarda una hor lavar mi coche", but for some reason that word order sounds odd to me .

All of the above can also be said "lleva or me lleva", or "toma / me toma". I am comfortable with all options.

Thanks for a different cultural viewpoint! - MLucie, Jan 4, 2012

Answer 3

Based on the conversation, I'm a bit confused as to where exactly the point of contention lies.

I am under the impression, and correct me if I am wrong, that the initial question was in reference to an impersonal expression such as "it takes an hour to wash my car" in which case Cogu noted that the sentence "Tarda una hora en lavar mi coche" does not match up with this sort of construction.

Instead, "tardar" is not used impersonally but is conjugated to match the subject so that the original Spanish sentence translates to, "He/she takes an hour to wash my car." Have I got it right so far?

Assuming I am correctly following the conversation to this point, I am assuming then that it would be possible to say, "Tardo una hora en lavar mi coche" to mean "I take an hour to wash my car." Would this be a safe assumption?

Also, how does the expression "Me cuesta una hora lavar mi coche" stack up against "Llevar una hora lavar mi coche?"

I was going to ask about "tardo una hora" too, good one. - jeezzle, Jan 4, 2012

Answer 4

I use the verb "tardar" from time to time. In a lesson I was listening to, the example they used was-

Va a tardar años en crecerme de nuevo. (Referring to hair)

And I found this on wordreference--

tardé dos horas en acabarlo, it took me two hours to finish it

Answer 5

My understanding is that llevar is good for 'how long you've been doing something' but tardar is better for 'how long it took you to do something.

The only thing you have to watch is that when it can mean 'to last' it's better to use durar. I think je je

Your examples look good to me, they seem similar to the ones given here.

123

There are not impersonal examples in that page, I don't think those constructions are similar to the original sentence - cogumela, Jan 4, 2012

ah I see sorry I was just looking for examples using tardar not specifically impersonal or even just the yo form, now I see the difference :) - Kiwi-Girl, Jan 4, 2012

Answer 6

I always think of tardar as "taking time."

No tardas mucho. Don't be too long.

Las reparacciones de mi carro tardaron tres dias. The repairs to my car took three days.

Answer 7

And for yet another twist on tardar: As a new Spanish speaker, I like to warn my listeners that it takes me a long time to form a sentence, so I was thinking of saying, ¨Lo siento, me tardo mucho tiempo formar una oracion.¨ ¿Está bien o no?

Answer 8

And I found this on wordreference--

tardé dos horas en acabarlo, it took me two hours to finish it

Based on the definition offered by the DRAE, I might suggest that a slightly more accurate translation in terms of grammar (though not necessarily more colloquial) might be:

"I used/spent/took two hours (in) finishing it."

I could be wrong, but the subtle difference seems to lie in the difference between the idea of time passing a person by while an activity is completed and the idea of a person actively employing that time to complete the activity.