طول کشیدن for Duration | Farsi Grammar

Persian طول کشیدن means that an event or process “takes” a certain amount of time: جلسه دو ساعت طول کشید “the meeting took two hours.” It is an intransitive compound verb. The event is its grammatical subject, while the measure phrase tells how much time the event occupied.

This architecture differs sharply from English take. In “It took me two hours to finish,” English can put the person after take and use dummy it. Persian normally begins with the duration and expresses the person on a finite تا clause: دو ساعت طول کشید تا کار را تمام کنم. Learning that argument structure prevents several persistent translation errors.

The event, not the person, is the subject

The basic pattern is:

event or process + duration + طول کشیدن

Element	Question it answers	Example
event subject	what occupied the time?	تعمیر آسانسور
duration measure	how long?	سه روز
finite predicate	what time viewpoint?	طول کشید

جلسه‌ی هیئت‌مدیره نزدیک به سه ساعت طول کشید.

jalase-ye hey'at-modire nazdik be se sâ'at tul keshid.

The board meeting took nearly three hours. (formal-neutral; completed event)

تعمیر آسانسور بیشتر وقت‌ها دو روز طول می‌کشد.

ta'mir-e âsânsur bishtar-e vaqt-hâ do ruz tul mi-keshad.

Repairing the elevator usually takes two days. (neutral; expected duration)

این مسیر با اتوبوس چهل دقیقه طول می‌کشد.

in masir bâ otobus chehel daqiqe tul mi-keshad.

This route takes forty minutes by bus. (neutral standard)

طول کشیدن does not assign a recipient-like role to the person who spends the time. If the event is “my writing the email,” Persian can name it with a possessive verbal noun or, more naturally in many conversations, put “I” on a following finite clause.

نوشتن گزارش بیشتر از انتظارم طول کشید.

neveshtan-e gozâresh bishtar az entezâr-am tul keshid.

Writing the report took longer than I expected. (neutral; infinitival event subject)

💡

To find the subject, ask “What lasted?” The meeting, repair, route, or task lasts; the person completing it does not become an object of طول کشیدن.

Conjugating the light verb کشیدن

Only کشیدن changes. Its past stem is کشید and present stem is کش. The nonverbal element طول remains fixed.

Form	Persian	Typical use
simple past	طول کشید	a completed event's duration
present imperfective	طول می‌کشد	usual, expected, current, or future duration
past imperfective	طول می‌کشید	usual or ongoing duration in the past
present perfect	طول کشیده است	duration assessed as relevant now
negative present	طول نمی‌کشد	does not take long

صدور کارت تازه حدود ده روز طول می‌کشد.

sodur-e kârt-e tâze hodud-e dah ruz tul mi-keshad.

Issuing a new card takes about ten days. (formal administrative information)

قدیم رفت‌وآمد تا روستا نصف روز طول می‌کشید.

qadim raft-o-âmad tâ rustâ nesf-e ruz tul mi-keshid.

In the past, traveling to and from the village used to take half a day. (neutral recollection)

بررسی پرونده بیشتر از یک ماه طول کشیده است.

barrasi-ye parvande bishtar az yek mâh tul keshide ast.

The review of the case has taken more than a month. (formal; duration remains relevant now)

Present طول می‌کشد can refer to the future when the schedule or prediction is clear: پرواز پنج ساعت طول می‌کشد may mean “the flight will take five hours.” Persian need not use a future auxiliary for an expected duration.

Asking and answering “how long?”

Use چقدر طول می‌کشد؟ for a neutral question. چه مدت طول می‌کشد؟ is somewhat more formal. The event can be an overt noun phrase, or context can leave it unspoken.

از فرودگاه تا مرکز شهر چقدر طول می‌کشد؟

az forudgâh tâ markaz-e shahr cheqadar tul mi-keshad?

How long does it take from the airport to the city center? (neutral)

اگر ترافیک نباشد، بیشتر از نیم ساعت طول نمی‌کشد.

agar terâfik na-bâshad, bishtar az nim sâ'at tul nemi-keshad.

If there is no traffic, it won't take more than half an hour. (neutral reply)

Informal Tehran reduces the ending in می‌کشد to می‌کشه. Keep the standard form in formal writing.

آماده شدن غذا چقدر طول می‌کشه؟

âmâde shodan-e ghazâ cheqadar tul mi-keshe?

How long will the food take to be ready? (informal, regional: Tehran)

تا introduces the endpoint event

When the event is too elaborate to package as a noun phrase, Persian often uses:

duration + طول کشیدن + تا + finite clause

The تا clause identifies the endpoint reached after the interval. Unlike English to finish, Persian normally uses a finite verb with person and mood.

یک ساعت طول کشید تا همه‌ی عکس‌ها را مرتب کنم.

yek sâ'at tul keshid tâ hame-ye aks-hâ râ morattab konam.

It took me an hour to sort all the photos. (neutral; first-person endpoint in the subjunctive)

چند دقیقه طول می‌کشد تا دستگاه دوباره روشن شود.

chand daqiqe tul mi-keshad tâ dastgâh do-bâre rowshan shavad.

It takes a few minutes for the device to turn on again. (neutral; expected endpoint)

The subjunctive is common when the endpoint is prospective from the viewpoint of طول کشیدن: you wait until it can be reached. A past matrix does not automatically force a past verb in that dependent clause, as طول کشید تا ... کنم shows.

An indicative is also natural when the speaker narrates the endpoint as an event that actually occurred, especially with بالاخره “finally.” This is a viewpoint contrast, not free variation.

خیلی طول کشید تا بالاخره به جاده‌ی اصلی رسیدیم.

kheyli tul keshid tâ belâkhare be jâdde-ye asli residim.

It took a long time before we finally reached the main road. (neutral narrative; attained endpoint)

💡

After تا, choose mood by viewpoint. Use a subjunctive for an endpoint treated as pending or targeted; use an indicative when narrating the eventual endpoint as an asserted fact.

طول کشیدن versus است که

These neighboring duration constructions answer different questions. دو سال است که اینجا کار می‌کنم measures how long a state or activity has continued up to now. نوشتن این برنامه دو سال طول کشید measures the total time occupied by a bounded project.

هشت ماه است که روی این طرح کار می‌کنیم.

hasht mâh ast ke ru-ye in tarh kâr mi-konim.

We have been working on this project for eight months. (still continuing)

مرحله‌ی نخست طرح هشت ماه طول کشید.

marhale-ye nokhost-e tarh hasht mâh tul keshid.

The first phase of the project took eight months. (completed bounded event)

The full ongoing-duration contrast appears on Duration with است که.

Common Mistakes

1. Making the person the subject of “take”

❌ من دو ساعت طول کشیدم تا گزارش را بنویسم.

Incorrect English transfer — the person does not conjugate طول کشیدن.

✅ دو ساعت طول کشید تا گزارش را بنویسم.

do sâ'at tul keshid tâ gozâresh râ be-nevisam.

It took me two hours to write the report.

2. Replacing the lexical light verb کشیدن with کردن

❌ تعمیر ماشین سه روز طول کرد.

Incorrect lexical pairing in standard Iranian Persian — duration uses طول کشیدن.

✅ تعمیر ماشین سه روز طول کشید.

ta'mir-e mâshin se ruz tul keshid.

Repairing the car took three days.

3. Using an infinitive after تا

❌ نیم ساعت طول کشید تا پیدا کردن آدرس.

Incorrect — تا introduces a finite clause here, not a Persian infinitive copied from English ‘to find.’

✅ نیم ساعت طول کشید تا آدرس را پیدا کنیم.

nim sâ'at tul keshid tâ âdres râ peydâ konim.

It took us half an hour to find the address.

4. Marking the duration measure with را

❌ این کار دو ساعت را طول کشید.

Incorrect — دو ساعت is a measure phrase, not a definite direct object.

✅ این کار کمی بیشتر از دو ساعت طول کشید.

in kâr kami bishtar az do sâ'at tul keshid.

This task took a little over two hours.

Key Takeaways

طول کشیدن is an intransitive compound: the event or process is its subject.
Put tense, aspect, and negation on کشیدن: کشید، می‌کشد، می‌کشید، کشیده است، نمی‌کشد.
A duration phrase measures the event; it is not a plural subject and does not take را.
Use تا + finite clause to name an endpoint or the person completing the task.
Subjunctive presents that endpoint as pending or targeted; indicative can assert the endpoint as an achieved narrative fact.

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