Lesson 2. Verb -는 데 [time] 이/가 걸리다, (time, money, effort) 이/가 들다

In today’s lesson, we will learn how to say “It takes this to do that.”

Let’s look at different ways to express it.

1. Verb –는 데(에) [time] 이/가 걸리다

If you want to say that something takes a specific amount of time to do a certain action, you can use this pattern:

Verb -는데(에) [time] 이/가 걸리다

Here, 걸리다 means “to take.”

For example:

한국어 마스터하는 데(에) 10년이 걸렸어요 – It took me 10 years to master Korean.

라면 끓이는 데 10분이 걸렸어요. – It took me 10 minutes to make ramen. [라면을 끓이다 literally means to boil ramen.]

학교까지 걸어가는데 30분이 걸려요. – It takes me 30 minutes to walk to school.

남자친구가 요리를 잘하는 데 1년이 걸렸어요. – It took my boyfriend a year to cook well.

저는 많은 한국어 단어를 배우는 데 몇 시간이 걸렸어요. – It took me a few hours to learn many words in Korean.

걸리다 can also be conjugated in the past and future tense; “it took~” and “it will take”

e.g.
여기서 우리 집까지 가는 데 15분 걸릴 거예요. – It will take 15 minutes to get to my house from here.

숙제를 하는데 두 시간이 걸렸어요. – It took me two hours to finish my homework.

서울에 있는 모든 관광지를 방문하는데 일주일이 걸렸어요. – It took me a week to visit all tourist destinations in Seoul.

2. Verb –는 데 (time, effort, money) 이/가 들다

Here, 들다 means “to take” and it can be used not just with time, but also effort or money.

Verb + 는데 (에) 시간이 / 돈이 / 노력이 들다: it takes time / money / effort to Verb

서점까지 가는 데에 시간이 많이 들어서 인터넷으로 주문하려고 해요. – It takes a lot of time to get to the bookstore, so I’m going to order it online.

컴퓨터를 수리하는 데 40만원이 들었어요. – It took 400,000 won to repair the computer.

외국어 실력을 늘리는 데에 많은 노력이 들어요. – It takes a lot of effort to improve one’s foreign language skills.

이 과제를 끝내는 데에  많은 시간이 들 거예요.(=시간이 걸릴 거예요.*) – It will take a lot of time to finish this assignment.

*These two are interchangeable when used with 시간, but the subtle difference would be that 들다 sounds more general whereas 걸리다 sounds like a more specific passing of time.

3. Noun 은/는/이/가 (time, money, effort) 이/가 들다

If you want to say a certain noun takes time, you can use a simpler construction : Noun 이/가 (time, money, effort) 이/가 들다.

청소는 30분이 걸려요. – Cleaning takes 30 minutes.

요리는 매일 많은 시간이 들어요. – Cooking every day takes a lot of time.

장거리 연애는 노력이 많이 들어요. Long distance relationship takes a lot of effort.

Let’s look at more variations:

1) 넘게 + 걸리다/들다 : to take more than ~
(넘다: to go over, surpass)

우리 집에서 서울까지 가는 데에 한 시간 넘게 걸려요. – It takes over an hour to go to Seoul from our house.

외국으로 택배를 보내는 데에 만원이 넘게 들어요. – It takes more than 10,000 won to ship the package abroad.

시험을 준비하는데 1 년 넘게 걸렸어요. – It took me more than a year to prepare for the test.

2) 밖에 + 안 걸리다/들다: to take only ~ 

This construction contains Noun + 밖에, which means “only” and should always be followed by a negative verb.

Noun + 밖에 + Negative Verb : Only Noun / Nothing but Noun

웹사이트에 가입하는 데에 10초 밖에 안 걸려요. –  It takes only 10 seconds to sign up for the website.

모든 가구를 옮기는 데에 십 만원 밖에 안 들었어요. – It only took 100,000 won to move all the furniture.

친구네 집까지 5분 밖에 안 걸려요. – It only takes 5 minutes to get to my friend’s house.

3) [time, money] 도 안 걸리다/들다: to take less than ~

저 주유소에서는 세차가 5000원도 안 들어요. Car washing takes less than 5,000 won in that gas station.

택배를 보내는 데 10분도 안 걸려요. – It takes less than 10 minutes to send the package.

케이크를 굽는데 1시간도 안 걸려요. – It takes less than 1 hour to bake a cake.