prendre du temps

\pʁɑ̃dʁ dy tɑ̃\

/\pʁɑ̃dʁ dy tɑ̃\/ verb

The verdict

“prendre du temps” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency French
16
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Retarder l’exécution de quelque chose.

Corpus desk

Index FR-prendre-du-temps · prendre du temps · French

prendre du temps · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 16 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "P" thin
  • PHOTO-UNK Peer pending

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Key facts for prendre du temps
PropertyValue
Headwordprendre du temps
LanguageFrench
Part of speechVerb
IPA\pʁɑ̃dʁ dy tɑ̃\
Letters16
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « prendre du temps » en français

prendre du tempsreste hors des 100.000 mots français les plus fréquents, dans la longue queue du vocabulaire technique, archaïque ou rare, là où le doute d'orthographe frappe.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

prendre du temps is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as averb, transcribed \pʁɑ̃dʁ dy tɑ̃\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.

prendre du temps doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.

No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct French form is prendre du temps, spelled P-R-E-N-D-R-E- -D-U- -T-E-M-P-S.

Definition

  1. 1
    Retarder l’exécution de quelque chose.
  2. 2
    Demander beaucoup de temps pour son exécution, en parlant d'une tâche
  3. 3
    Se reposer ; prendre son temps.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how prendre du temps appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Ce travail si complexe prendra du temps.
  2. Bon sang, ça en a pris du temps !

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "prendre du temps"?
"prendre du temps" is spelled P-R-E-N-D-R-E- -D-U- -T-E-M-P-S. The IPA pronunciation is \pʁɑ̃dʁ dy tɑ̃\.
What does "prendre du temps" mean?
As a verb, "prendre du temps" means: Retarder l’exécution de quelque chose.
How do you pronounce "prendre du temps"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "prendre du temps" is \pʁɑ̃dʁ dy tɑ̃\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "prendre du temps" come from?
"prendre du temps" is a French word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list