Breakdown of La reparación de mi bicicleta tardó dos horas.
mi
my
de
of
la bicicleta
the bicycle
la hora
the hour
dos
two
la reparación
the repair
tardar
to take
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Questions & Answers about La reparación de mi bicicleta tardó dos horas.
Why is there la before reparación?
In Spanish, reparación is a feminine noun (“repair”). When you refer to that specific repair, you need the definite article la, just like you’d say la casa (“the house”) or la tarea (“the homework”). So la reparación literally means the repair.
Why do we say de mi bicicleta instead of just mi bicicleta?
Here reparación is a noun, and you want to specify whose bike was repaired. Spanish uses the preposition de (“of”) after a noun to show possession or association. So la reparación de mi bicicleta means the repair of my bike. If you dropped de, it would sound like you’re naming two separate things, not linking them.
What does tardó mean in this sentence?
Tardó is the third-person singular preterite (simple past) form of the verb tardar, which means “to take (time).” So tardó dos horas means “(it) took two hours.” The subject is la reparación, so literally: “The repair took two hours.”
Why is it tardó dos horas and not tardó en dos horas?
When you express how long something takes, you use tardar + [time period] without en.
- Correct: tardó dos horas (“took two hours”)
- tardar en + infinitive is a different structure meaning “to delay doing something” (e.g., tardó en contestar – “he was slow to answer”).
Could I say La reparación me tomó dos horas instead?
Yes. You can swap tardar for tomar (“to take”) and add the indirect object pronoun me for “to me.”
- La reparación me tomó dos horas.
Both sentences mean the same, but using me tomó emphasizes your perspective: “It took me two hours.”
Why don’t we say Reparar mi bicicleta tardó dos horas?
You could use the infinitive Reparar as a noun, but Spanish prefers a clear subject like la reparación or a construction with me:
- Reparar mi bicicleta me tomó dos horas.
Saying Reparar mi bicicleta tardó dos horas is understandable, but feels less natural.
Why is the preterite tardó used instead of the present perfect ha tardado?
In Latin American Spanish, the simple past (pretérito) is the standard way to talk about a completed action at a definite time in the past. The present perfect (ha tardado) is possible but less common in everyday Latin American speech for finished events.
Why isn’t there an article before dos horas?
After verbs expressing duration (like tardar, durar, tomar), Spanish omits the article before the time expression. So you say tardó dos horas, not tardó las dos horas.
Could I start the sentence with Dos horas? For example, Dos horas tardó la reparación de mi bicicleta?
Yes, you can front the time for emphasis or a stylistic effect:
- Dos horas tardó la reparación de mi bicicleta.
It’s grammatical but more poetic or emphatic. In neutral speech, you’d normally keep la reparación first.