Quanto tempo você precisa para sair de casa, dez ou vinte minutos?

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Breakdown of Quanto tempo você precisa para sair de casa, dez ou vinte minutos?

• a casa: the house
• ou: or
• para: to

Questions & Answers about Quanto tempo você precisa para sair de casa, dez ou vinte minutos?

Why is quanto tempo used here to mean “how long / how much time”?

In Portuguese, quanto tempo is the standard way to ask “how long / how much time”.

• quanto = how much / how many
• tempo = time (in the sense of duration)

So:

• Quanto tempo você precisa…? = How much time do you need…? / How long do you need…?

You would not normally use something like quão longo in this context. Quão is much rarer and tends to be used in more literary or specific structures, not for asking about time like this.

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Why is it tempo (singular) and not tempos, like “quantos tempos”?

When tempo means “time” as a general quantity or duration, it behaves like an uncountable noun in Portuguese, so it stays in the singular:

• Quanto tempo falta? – How much time is left?
• Não tenho tempo. – I don’t have (any) time.

You would almost never say quantos tempos to mean “how many units of time”; that sounds wrong in this sense. Tempo only normally goes to plural (tempos) in other meanings, like:

• naqueles tempos – in those days
• os tempos mudaram – times have changed

But for “how much time”, always use quanto tempo (singular).

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I learned that precisar is usually precisar de (“to need”). Why is there no de here, and can I say De quanto tempo você precisa… instead?