How to Say "long" in Spanish
The most common Spanish word for “long” is “largo” — use 'largo' when talking about physical length, distance, or duration of time, like the size of an object or how long an event lasted.
largo
LAR-goˈlaɾɣo
Examples
El camino es muy largo.
The road is very long.
El vestido es demasiado largo para mí.
The dress is too long for me.
Fue un invierno largo y frío.
It was a long and cold winter.
Me sirvió una porción muy larga de pastel.
He served me a very generous portion of cake.
Matching the Thing It Describes
'Largo' changes to match the gender and number of the noun it describes. Use 'largo' for masculine things (un camino largo), 'larga' for feminine things (una calle larga), 'largos' for masculine plural (caminos largos), and 'largas' for feminine plural (calles largas).
False Friend Alert: 'largo' is NOT 'large'
Mistake: “Quiero una pizza largo. (Trying to say 'I want a large pizza.')”
Correction: This is a very common mix-up! 'Largo' means long, not large. To say 'large' or 'big', you must use the word 'grande'. Correct: 'Quiero una pizza grande'.
extenso
eks-TEN-soeksˈtenso
Examples
Nos dio una explicación extensa del tema.
He gave us an extensive explanation of the topic.
El profesor nos dio una lista extensa de libros.
The teacher gave us an extensive list of books.
Su discurso fue demasiado extenso y la gente se aburrió.
His speech was too long and people got bored.
Escribió un artículo extenso sobre la historia del arte.
He wrote a detailed article about art history.
Describing time vs. space
Even though 'extenso' feels like it's about space, it's the standard way to say a document or a speech is very long.
Don't forget the 's'
Mistake: “Saying 'ex-ten-to'.”
Correction: Make sure to pronounce the 's' clearly: 'ex-ten-so'.
Largo vs. Extenso
Related Translations
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