# It would've taken you 15 minutes



## Emiliana de Lunares

Hello, everyone!

I always feel a bit unsure when attempting to express the following ideas in Spanish:

_*It would've taken you 15 minutes.*_

My attempts:

_*Te habría llevado 15 minutos.*_

OR

_*Te hubiera llevado 15 minutos.*_

Which one is correct and why? Also, is "_*llevar*_" the optional verb choice here?
Thank you in advance for your time and input.
I hope to hear from someone soon! 

Títulado cambiado para incluir la frase consultada (Regla 3).


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## chileno

Both are correct.

Llevar o tomar.


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## Emiliana de Lunares

Thank you for your quick response!
Is the grammar also correct?


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## chileno

Yes, because in English you cannot say "It would *had* taken..."


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## Emiliana de Lunares

So... the conditional is the correct tense?


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## chileno

Emiliana de Lunares said:


> So... the conditional is the correct tense?



In your language...it means both in Spanish...


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## Emiliana de Lunares

Yes, hence the confusion  
I was asking if someone could give me a grammatical explanation.


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## SevenDays

Emiliana de Lunares said:


> Hello, everyone!
> 
> I always feel a bit unsure when attempting to express the following ideas in Spanish:
> 
> _*It would've taken you 15 minutes.*_
> 
> My attempts:
> 
> _*Te habría llevado 15 minutos.*_
> 
> OR
> 
> _*Te hubiera llevado 15 minutos.*_
> 
> Which one is correct and why? Also, is "_*llevar*_" the optional verb choice here?
> Thank you in advance for your time and input.
> I hope to hear from someone soon!



They are both grammatically correct. If you wanted to zero in on a difference, keep in mind that the subjunctive "hubiera" suggests less likelihood/certainty/etc. than the conditional, which is part of the indicative mood. In actual practice the difference may be so minimal that a speaker probably uses either one without worrying or stopping to think about it.


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## jmx

In Spain, instead of "llevar" or "tomar", the usual verb is "costar".


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## chileno

jmx said:


> In Spain, instead of "llevar" or "tomar", the usual verb is "costar".



Así que no usan "llevar" ni "tomar" de ninguna manera en este contexto?


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## jmx

chileno said:


> Así que no usan "llevar" ni "tomar" de ninguna manera en este contexto?


Quizá en alguna región sí, pero en general no.


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## chamyto

jmx said:


> In Spain, instead of "llevar" or "tomar", the usual verb is "costar".



This sounds to me a bit formal. _Llevar_ is widely used where I live. I do not know why you say that in general the others are not used. I don't get your point.


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## jmx

chamyto said:


> This sounds to me a bit formal. _Llevar_ is widely used where I live. I do not know why you say that in general the others are not used. I don't see your point.


Well, I don't hear "llevar" with this meaning in my environment, and neither do I hear it on the media, so I gather that it is unusual in Spain as a whole. As I said in my previous post, I can't discard a regional use, which you seem to confirm.


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## chileno

jmx said:


> Well, I don't hear "llevar" with this meaning in my environment, and neither do I hear it on the media, so I gather that it is unusual in Spain as a whole. As I said in my previous post, I can't discard a regional use, which you seem to confirm.



So, would it be possible that only in your region is not used but be widely used in the rest of the country?

Is that what you're saying?

I hope this reply is not erased, because it really represents some of the mind frames from different people, somewhat valid, but a fact that has to be acknowledged, especially by those learning a language and those trying to teach one.


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## jmx

chileno said:


> So, would it be possible that only in your region is not used but be widely used in the rest of the country?


I don't think so, because, as I said, I don't hear it on the Madrid media either, in addition I live in a city with lots of people from all corners of Spain.

"Me ha llevado quince minutos acabarlo." It doesn't sound like something I hear often.

Of course it would be interesting to have posts from other areas in Spain, and in America.


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## JuanG1989

I don't think it's a problem of regions, but of formality.

Well, first and foremost, you can use "hubiera" and "habría" likewise for the conditional in Spanish. Both are acceptable, and both are widely used. Yet "hubiera" is becoming more common in spoken spanish, whereas "habría" is becoming a little more formal, but just a little bit as you can hear both in informal spoken spanish.

As to the verb "tomar/llevar", if I have to choose between them, I'd definitely go for "llevar", though "tomar" can also be used and sounds to me more like latinoamerican (but they should say). But do we really use "llevar/tomar" in this context? Well, as I said before, it's not a matter of regions, but of formality. For us, to say such sentence, ("Te habría llevado 15 minutos"), which is grammatically correct, sounds formal or even literary. Or, perhaps, we say it when we want to emphasize the time it took us (for example when we are angry about it or something). So, how would i say the sentence in informal spanish? I would use the verb "durar". This is a verb that doesn't exist in english, and it's the accurate verb to translate "it take + somebody + time" or "somebody + takes + time" in standard spanish. Let me give you some examples:

"It takes me 5 minutes to iron this shirt" -> Tardo cinco minutos en planchar esta camisa.
"It will take John 2 hours to do the paperwork" -> John tardará 2 horas en hacer el papeleo
"It takes a year to go to Mars" -> Se tarda un año en ir a Marte (here we use *se* because it's an impersonal sentence, it takes *everybody in general* that time to go to Mars).

So i would say your sentence this way in standard spanish: "Habrías tardado 15 minutos". And if you want a more literary/emphatical way, you can use what you wrote: "Te habría llevado 15 minutos".


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## jmx

So nobody else would say "Me costó quince minutos"?


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## JuanG1989

No, not normally. Just if you really really want to emphasize, but it's not very common actually. Normally we use "tardar".


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## inib

jmx said:


> So nobody else would say "Me costó quince minutos"?


I most definitely *would*. It would be my first choice in conversation (as opposed to_ llevar_ or _tomar_). _Tardé 15 minutos _is another good option.


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## chamyto

inib said:


> I most definitely *would*. It would be my first choice in conversation (as opposed to_ llevar_ or _tomar_). _Tardé 15 minutos _is another good option.



Good point. The only situation where I would say "me costó" is if this situation had to do with putting a great effort to carrying it out.


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## Agró

jmx said:


> So nobody else would say "Me costó quince minutos"?


I would. As would all the people around me.


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## Penyafort

In Spain, _te habría _(or _hubiera_) _llevado quince minutos _is possible, just not as common as with _costar_. And _tomar _is never used with this sense.

But the most common is _tardar_. People would simply say _Habrías tardado quince minutos_. Notice the structure is different to the one in English.


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## BryanCr7Know

I would use neither of those: 

I'd say: Te hubieras demorado 15 minutos. 



Regards.


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## ChemaSaltasebes

Just to add to the regional differences, I would definitely go for "Habrías tardado 15 minutos". Also, "Te habría llevado 15 minutos": "Habría" antes que "Hubiera", y "tardar/llevar" antes que "costar" ("tomar" se entiende pero no se utiliza en España). 
A mí me suenan naturales tanto "habría" (que no me resuena como particularmente formal, al contrario de lo que se ha dicho), como "llevar", en este contexto.


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## JuanG1989

Bryan, maybe in Colombia "demorarse" is informal, but in Spain it's really formal or literary.


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## Amapolas

The most frequent in my region would be 'me llevó/tomó quince minutros' or 'tardé quince minutos'.

When we use 'costar' we imply a special effort, and we don't normally use it with time measurements:
* Me costó quince minutos. (nope)
Me costó mucho trabajo hacerlo, pero finalmente lo logré.
Me costó un gran esfuerzo cruzar el estrecho a nado; llegué agotado a la otra orilla.


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