Thread: "Take" as a verb expressing a time

Hi friends!

It took me a long time to get on well with her.
The movie takes over two hours.
It doesn't take so long to get from the bus station to my place.
It always take her a lot of time to finish taking the shower.

Does занять is the correct verb for all of the situations?

My try:

Мне потребовалось много времени, чтобы с ней поладить. (?)
Фильм идёт более двух часов.
Добраться от автовокзала до моего места не займёт много времени.
Она всегда долго принимает душ. (?)

The short answer is no. The long answer, well, you have to rephrase most of those sentences if you want them to sound natural in Russian. My take on it:

1) Мне понадобилось/потребовалось много времени, чтобы с ней сдружиться/поладить.
2) Фильм длится более двух часов or better yet фильм идёт более двух часов.
3) От остановки до моего дома идти не долго.
4) Она постоянно/всегда очень долго принимает душ.

I hope this helps somehow.

It always take her a lot of time to finish taking the shower

takes?

RedFox
Why question signs? The sentences are okay. Except for "моего места" maybe. It's either "моего дома/моего района/моего квартала" (something more specific than just a 'place') or "места, где я живу" as if a definition. Somebody's 'place' in Russian is only used to show somebody's position (both literal and figurative):
Знай своё место и не лезь вперёд начальства со своими словами.
Он - прекрасный специалист и на этой должности он - на своём месте.
В кинотеатре: С моего места (место is a seat at the movies/theater/classroom/etc) всё было прекрасно видно. / Он всё отлично видел со своего места.
If I were you: Это была страшная ошибка! На твоём месте, я бы застрелился. (Как хорошо, что я не на твоём месте.) - Я с удовольствием поменяюсь с тобой местами.
Твоё место в колонне - в третьем ряду слева.

Originally Posted by RedFox

My try:

Мне потребовалось много времени, чтобы с ней поладить. (?)
Фильм идёт более двух часов.
Добраться от автовокзала до моего места не займёт много времени.
Она всегда долго принимает душ. (?)

Thanks a lot.

My English is not perfect so I don't know whether they're correct. However, in Czech we say sentences like these.

By the first sentence I mean → … before I started to get on with her / … before I got on with her. For those who can speak Czech → ''… než jsem s ní začal vycházet /… než jsem s ní vycházel''

By the last sentence I mean → before she will finish her showering (the process). In Czech -> ''… než se vysprchuje“ meaning simply → ''before (or maybe until) she will finish that''.

Do you have one word for this verb, too?

Originally Posted by George1992

Thanks a lot.

My English is not perfect so I don't know whether they're correct. However, in Czech we say sentences like these.

By the first sentence I mean → … before I started to get on with her / … before I got on with her. For those who can speak Czech → ''… než jsem s ní začal vycházet /… než jsem s ní vycházel''

By the last sentence I mean → before she will finish her showering (the process). In Czech -> ''… než se vysprchuje“ meaning simply → ''before (or maybe until) she will finish that''.

Do you have one word for this verb, too?

Well, in the first sentence I was not sure how to get on well with should be translated and put a question mark for that reason.
In the last one the verb to finish confused me.

Originally Posted by George1992

Do you have one word for this verb, too?

It seems there is no general time-taking verb in Russian. Занимать/занять plays well in the most cases, especially in a formal language, but it can sound unnatural in the colloquial.

Занимать's agreement is: занимает [у кого - a person in Genitive] [сколько времени] [что - an infinitive or a verbal noun in Nominative]
For example:
Подготовка к занятиям заняла у меня два часа.

Требоваться/потребоваться is also a widely used time-taking verb. Its agreement:
потребоваться [кому - a person in Dative] [сколько времени], чтобы [a clause of intent].


What about your sentences:

1. It took me a long time to get on well with her.
There is no verbal noun from поладить. We can try the infinitive instead:
Поладить с ней заняло у меня много времени.
Grammatically OK, but I dislike it for some reason. So I prefer потребовалось:
Мне потребовалось много времени, чтобы с ней поладить.
Maybe it is because чтобы explicitly expresses the intent of a speaker.

2. The movie takes over two hours.
Фильм занимает более двух часов. - quite understandable. But фильм is not a process (not a verbal noun), so it is better to rephrase it:
Фильм длится более двух часов. - OK, but bookish.
Фильм идёт более двух часов. — sound natural.

3. It doesn't take so long to get from the bus station to my place.
Literal translation is OK: Добраться до меня от автовокзала/остановки не займёт много времени. (or: займёт не так много времени)
If you mean it is really close points, maybe a few minutes of walking, iCake's version is better: От остановки до моего дома идти не долго.


4. It always take her a lot of time to finish taking the shower.
I read it as "finishing of taking the shower takes a lot of time", that is not very clear.
If you just mean that the duration of the process (taking the shower) is long, it can be translated with a timing adverbial, no extra verb is needed:
Она всегда долго принимает душ. An imperfective принимает душ expresses here both a process (so we can apply долго to it) and an interative action (so всегда can be applied too).

I mean the same finish as in -> to finish eating, to finish reading and so on... which are translated by one word -> доесть, дочитать...

That's the reason I asked if you have also one word for "to finish showering".

That's the reason I asked if you have also one word for "to finish showering".

We have no one word even for "showering". Verb "душится" is already taken by two another different words.
However this can be changed to "мыться" ("wash himself") and "домыться" sounds like what you want "to finish wash herself".

But be aware of post just above. "Домыться" is "to make last (finishing) steps of process of washing yourself".