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¿Cuánto tardó ella en lograr un acento nativo?

¿Cuánto tardó ella en lograr un acento nativo?
How long did she take to achieve a native accent?
From Lesson 260:Delay and duration (tardar en)·Spanish (Latin America)

Questions & Answers about ¿Cuánto tardó ella en lograr un acento nativo?

Why do we need the word en before lograr?
When you want to say how long it takes to do something, Spanish uses the verb tardar followed by the preposition en and an infinitive verb (like lograr). In English, we say "take to [verb]", but in Spanish, the en is strictly required to connect the action.
Why does cuánto translate to "how long" here? Doesn't it usually mean "how much"?
Yes, cuánto literally means "how much". In this sentence, it is actually short for cuánto tiempo (how much time). When asking about duration with verbs like tardar, it is completely natural to drop tiempo and just use cuánto to mean "how long".
Why is ella placed after tardó instead of at the beginning?
In Spanish questions, the subject (like ella) is almost always placed right after the verb (tardó). While ¿Ella cuánto tardó...? is understandable, putting the verb before the subject in a question sounds much more natural to native speakers.
Could I use conseguir instead of lograr to mean "achieve"?
Absolutely. Conseguir and lograr are often interchangeable when talking about reaching a goal, succeeding, or obtaining something. Saying en conseguir un acento nativo would be just as common and natural here.

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