What does “tardado” mean in Mexican Spanish?
Mi desayuno lento con mi abuelo
A1 Spanish listening practice · Mexican Spanish · Picked for people who know a little
In Mexico, tardado describes anything that takes a long time to do. It comes from tardar (“to take time”), so es muy tardado means “it takes forever” or “it’s a slow process.” It is the natural way to complain, or just to observe, that something drags on: cooking, a queue, a trip across town. Learners often reach for lento, but tardado is about the whole job, not the speed.
Compare Mi abuelo es lento (he moves slowly) with Es muy tardado desayunar con mi abuelo (breakfast with him takes ages). The first is about a person, the second about the length of the activity. Related: tardar en + infinitive, as in tardo una hora en llegar (“it takes me an hour to get there”).
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Harder words in this video
These words are harder than A1. Here is what they mean.
Source: wordfreq 3.1.1 (general) · SUBTLEX-ESP 2011 (spoken). These numbers are close, not perfect.