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  • Mon corps a mis deux ans à s'y habituer.
  • Mon corps a pris deux ans à s'y habituer.
  • Ça m'a pris deux ans pour mon corps de s'y habituer.
  • Ça a pris deux ans à mon corps de s'y habituer.

I want to say, “how long it took for me to do something”, or “how much time I spent in doing something”. And I’m not certain how to use “mettre” and “prendre”.

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  • To spend two years doing it as in: I spent two years getting my body used to it? It took me two years to get my body accustomed to it? It all depends on the actual sentence. You seem to switch gears somehow....or do you mean: It TOOK ME two years to get my body used to it??
    – Lambie
    Oct 15, 2016 at 14:56
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    @Lambie "It TOOK ME two years to get my body used to it" This is basically what I want to say. But I want to know various different ways to express it. ;-)
    – Segwayinto
    Oct 15, 2016 at 18:40
  • POUR s'y habituer. The only other I can think of is: Il a fallu deux ans à mon corps pour s 'y habituer.
    – Lambie
    Oct 15, 2016 at 18:49
  • @Lambie Thank you. Is it incorrect to say "Il fallait deux ans à mon corps pour s 'y habituer."? ;-)
    – Segwayinto
    Oct 15, 2016 at 21:02

1 Answer 1

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The first two sentences are definetly right and clear, and certainly the most approriate way of telling this. (The two last, on the other hand are incorrect and would sound weird to a french speaker)

If you want to include yourselft as "Me" in the sentence - like you said in your comment -, this is how I'd express it :

  • Il m'a fallu deux ans pour y habituer mon corps

  • Cela m'a pris deux ans pour y habituer mon corps

Or, if you want to highlight the fact that you just/finally achieved it :

  • Il m'a fallu deux ans, mais j'ai finalement pu y habituer mon corps.
  • Cela m'a pris deux ans, mais j'ai finalement pu y habituer mon corps.

Even more insisting on the achievement :

  • Il m'aura fallu deux ans, mais j'ai finalement pu y habituer mon corps.
  • Cela m'aura pris deux ans, mais j'ai finalement pu y habituer mon corps.

Attention

If you want to precise what your body got used to, the sentence would be :

  • Il m'a fallu deux ans pour y habituer mon corps à cet effort quotidien.

Which somehow sounds even better than the version with y.

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