Tardo cinco minutos en preparar el desayuno.

I take five minutes to prepare breakfast.

Breakdown of Tardo cinco minutos en preparar el desayuno.

• yo: I
• en: in
• el desayuno: the breakfast
• preparar: to prepare

Questions & Answers about Tardo cinco minutos en preparar el desayuno.

What does tardar en mean, and why is it used here?

• Meaning: “to take (time) to do something.”
• Usage: When you want to express how long you need for an action, use tardar + en + infinitive.
• In this sentence, tardo cinco minutos en preparar tells you the speaker “takes five minutes to prepare.”

Why is the verb tardo in the present tense and first person singular?

• Tardo = first person singular (yo) present form of tardar.
• Spanish often uses the present tense for habitual actions or general statements: “I take five minutes…”
• If the speaker meant past or future, they’d change the tense (e.g., tardé, tardaré).

Why is there an en before preparar, and what role does it play?

• tardar requires the preposition en when introducing the action that takes time.
• en links tardar to the following infinitive, making the structure: tardar en + [infinitive].

Why is preparar in the infinitive form rather than a conjugated verb?

• After a preposition (here, en), Spanish always uses the infinitive.
• The infinitive functions like a noun, naming the action that “takes” the time.