Ways to talk about TIME in English using the verb TAKE

Do you know how to talk about time in English ? How can we use the verb “TAKE” to talk about time? Stay with POC English in the rest of this article!

Talking about time is inevitable. Throughout the day, people plan each hour of their lives. Set meeting with important people and participate in particular courses and classes that are held at a specific time. There are many different verbs and vocabulary related to time but in this lesson, we are going to focus on the verb “take”. Let’s learn to talk about how much time you need to do something in English, using the verb “take” in your sentence.

1.   Talking about time in English  using (person + take + time + infinitive)

Take a look at this example:

• Last night the train was late, so I took three hours to get home.

As you can see, “I” is the subject of this sentence or the person who is doing the mentioned action.

“took” is the verb and after that, we have the time and at the end of the sentence, we have the infinitive (to get home).

Another example related to talk about time in English :

• He takes all day to get out of the bathroom.

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2.   Activity + take + person + time

The other way to talk about time in English using the verb take is by starting the sentence with the activity. In this case, the activity is the subject. Look at this example:

• The journey took me three hours.

In this sentence, we started with the activity (the journey) plus the verb (take), plus person, plus time.

Let’s have a look at these examples:

• Gardening takes a lot of time.

• Reading this book took me two hours.

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3.   Talk about time in English using (object + take + person + time + infinitive)

Number three is when the object of the activity is the subject of a sentence. Don’t panic, it’s a pretty easy way to talk about time in English. Look at this example:

• The house will take me all week to clean.

What am I doing? I’m cleaning

What am I cleaning? I’m cleaning the house.

So, “the house” is the object, and “I am” the subject. Use the object in the beginning and start with “the house” then use the verb “take” (the house will take) then use a person (the house will take me) then use time (the house will take me all week) and finally use the infinitive (the house will take me all week to clean).

Let’s have a look at some other examples related to talk about time in English :

• The newspaper took him two hours to read.

• The video took him two hours to edit.

Learn more: In this article you are learning about talking about time. But how can we talk about something in English fluently? Listening to podcasts help you improve both listening and speaking skills. Follow the link below to learn more about it:
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4.   It + take + person + time + infinitive

You can use ” It ” to talk about time in English as the subject. For example:

• It took me three hours to get home last night.

In this case, you can start with “it” plus “take” plus “person” (It took me) plus “time” (it took me three hours) plus “infinitive” (It took me three hours to get home last night).

Let’s have a look at these examples:

• It took me five hours to finish the book.

• It took me three hours to water the plants.

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5.   Talk about time in English using (It + take + person + time + before/until)

Number five is basically number four which means we can start this sentence with “it”. However, in this case, we use “before” or “until” in the middle of the sentence. You ask how? let’s have a look at this example:

• It took us six weeks until we got the house clean.

We can also use “before”:

• It took us six weeks before we got the house clean.

But what does it mean and how can we use it?

In number four after time, we use the infinitive right so we say “It took me six weeks to clean the house.” however here, instead of the infinitive, we use “before” or “until” which basically have the same meaning. So, the structure is pretty much the same.

Let’s have a look at some other examples:

• It took him 20 minutes until he watered all the plants.

• It took him three hours before he finished the book.

Let’s review all the structures we just learned to talk about time in English.

Conclusion 

I hope you’ve enjoyed this lesson. Remember, learning English takes time. (This is also another way of using “take” to talk about time in English :). “Something takes time” means you need to spend some time doing it.) So don’t forget to take your time studying English (and here’s another one! “to take your time”. It means to not hurry.) Just relax and study carefully!