Word
Le dio por adoptar esa manía temporal, pero tarda mucho en abandonarla.
Meaning
He took to adopting that temporary habit, but it takes him a long time to abandon it.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
Breakdown of Le dio por adoptar esa manía temporal, pero tarda mucho en abandonarla.
pero
but
en
in / on / at
mucho
many / a lot
ese
that (masculine)
Questions & Answers about Le dio por adoptar esa manía temporal, pero tarda mucho en abandonarla.
How does le dio por adoptar express a sudden or capricious action?
The structure darle por + infinitive is a colloquial way to express that someone started doing something on a whim, or developed a sudden habit. The indirect object pronoun (le here) shows who is struck by this sudden urge, and dio (from dar) acts like the urge 'hit' them. It means 'he took it into his head to adopt...' or 'he suddenly took to adopting...'.
Does manía mean a medical 'mania' here?
Not usually! In everyday Spanish, a manía is a quirk, a bad habit, a pet peeve, or a slight obsession. While it can mean 'mania' in a clinical sense, here esa manía temporal just means 'that temporary habit' or 'that passing phase'.
Why is the preposition en used in tarda mucho en abandonarla?
The verb tardar (to take time or delay) requires the preposition en before an infinitive to express what action is taking a long time. You can think of it as 'he delays a lot in abandoning it.' This is a set structure you will see often: tardar + [time amount] + en + [infinitive].
What does the -la at the end of abandonarla refer to?