tardé

Tardó is the third-person singular past tense form of the Spanish verb tardar, meaning to take time or to delay. As a simple preterite, tardó indicates that someone or something needed or required a certain amount of time to perform an action in the past, or that a delay occurred.

Usage and meaning

Tardó can express duration with a direct time expression, as in "Tardó dos horas en llegar" (It took two hours to arrive). It can also be followed by the construction tardar en + infinitive to emphasize the delay before starting or completing an action, for example "Tardó en responder" or "Tardó en terminar el informe." The verb often implies an element of lateness or slower-than-expected progress.

Grammatical notes

Tardó is the pretérito perfecto simple (preterite) form for él/ella/usted. The imperfect form is tardaba, used for ongoing or habitual past actions. The past participle is tardado, and the gerund is tardando. Tardar can appear in various tenses and moods, but tardó specifically places the action in a completed past moment.

Etymology and related terms

Tardar comes from Latin tardare, rooted in tardus meaning slow or late. The adjective tardo exists in Spanish as a descriptor meaning slow or late, though it is less common in modern use than the verb forms.

See also

Common phrases include tardar en hacer algo and expressions describing delays in transportation, communication, or processes.