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Loro ci hanno messo molto perché hanno aspettato al semaforo.

Loro ci hanno messo molto perché hanno aspettato al semaforo.
They took a long time because they waited at the traffic light.
From Lesson 140:Taking time (volerci, metterci)·Italian

Questions & Answers about Loro ci hanno messo molto perché hanno aspettato al semaforo.

Why do we use ci hanno messo here instead of ci è voluto?
The verb metterci is personal, meaning it tells us who is taking the time. Because "they" (loro) took a long time, we conjugate it for them: ci hanno messo. If we wanted to use volerci, we would be focusing on the time itself rather than the people, and we would just say ci è voluto molto (it took a long time).
In ci hanno messo, why do we use hanno (avere) instead of sono (essere)?
Even though metterci has the extra pronoun ci attached to it, it still follows the rules of its base verb, mettere (to put). Since mettere takes avere as its helper verb in the past tense, metterci also takes avere.
Since "loro" is plural, why doesn't the past participle messo change to messi?
Because the helping verb is hanno (avere). In the past tense, the past participle usually only changes its ending to match the subject when the helping verb is essere. Since we are using avere, messo stays in its default singular masculine form ending in -o.
The English translation says "a long time", but doesn't molto just mean "a lot"?
Yes, molto literally means "a lot" or "much". When used with verbs of time duration like metterci and volerci, it is the standard way to say "a lot of time" or "a long time". You do not need to add the word for time (tempo).
Why do we use al semaforo for "at the traffic light"?
In Italian, to say you are waiting "at" a specific spot like a traffic light, you use the preposition a. Because the traffic light is specific ("the" traffic light), you must combine a with the masculine singular article il. Together, a + il become the combined word al.

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