hexdolk

[olive patio]

Please be patient

Our volunteers look into many questions every day; sometimes it takes them a little while to answer.

Pro tip: you can rename the thread title with `.tr <thread name>`

Make it descriptive, including relevant context, but also to the point. This way you improve your chances of getting a more relevant and specific answer.

[final crypt]

The subject is missing in your 2nd sentence. You should say : "Combien de temps cela t'a-t-il pris ?" (1st one is good)

[analog raft]

But "il" is already a subject.

[final crypt]

No, "il" is not subject. The answer to your question would be : "Cela m'a pris 2h." "Cela" is the subject. I cannot explain the role of "il" but it is more a word to sound better when asking a question. "Il" disapears when answering.

[analog raft]

But we can make the same sentence with "Il m'a pris". Can't we?

[final crypt]

No, this is not correct. You can't say that.

[analog raft]

And even if it'd be translated as "He took me" instead of "It took me", I still have seen instances where "Il" is translated as "it" as well, not only "he".

[final crypt]

When you say "il m'a pris", "il" refers to somenone. So "il m'a pris 2h de mon temps pour ... " means this guy took 2 hours of my time to...

[final crypt]

If you have an example, I could check but as far as I know, "It took me..." is always "Cela/ça m'a pris..."

[analog raft]

For example
"Il est deux heures"
Here, "Il" is translated as "it" and not "he". So I was wondering why can't we say "Il m'a pris" if "il" can mean "it" in this case.

[proper river]

Le déménagement m'a pris deux mois => Il m'a pris deux mois.
Both questions work. The subjects are just different (cela for the first one and il for the second).

[final crypt]

Yes but "Il" is used as a pronoun (le déménagement). When "Il" is not refering as a pronoun, it doesn't work.

[analog raft]

So the question "Combien de temps t'a-t-il pris ?" is correct?

[golden steppe]

or peut-etre 'Il a fallu 2 mois pour me déménager

[proper river]

Only when il refers to something and not just there as an addition to the subject "cela" in an inversion question.

[final crypt]

Without context, I thought your question was something very general like "How long did it take ?" --> It refers to nothing. If you add context, that's different because "it" may refer to something, like in Nameless One's example.

[proper river]

Move "me" before "a fallu" and you're good. Even though déménager is transitive (it refers to moving your stuff elsewhere), it is used in the absolute sense (i.e. without needing to use an object) when it means changing locations.