"It does not take me long to do it well"

Question

Suppose I would like to say "It does not take me long to do it well". Which of the following are correct, and what differences in nuances might each of them have?

• "Ne necesas ke mi longe fari ĝin bone"
• "Ne necesas al mi longe fari ĝin bone"
• "Ne bezonas ke mi longe fari ĝin bone"
• "Ne bezonas al mi longe fari ĝin bone"
• (the above four again, but with "bone" right after "fari")
• (likewise, but with "bone" between "longe" and "fari")
• (likewise, but with "bone" before "longe")

What other ways are there to express this idea?

Answer 1

I would probably say this like:

Mi ne bezonas longan tempon por fari ĝin bone.

I think when the “to” before a verb in English can be replaced by “in order to”, it’s better to add the “por” in an Esperanto translation to make the meaning clear.

Some comments on your examples:

Ne necesas ke mi longe fari ĝin bone

This one is not correct because it has a subject with an infinitive (mi fari). It sounds more like you are saying that it’s not necessary to do it at all.

Ne necesas al mi longe fari ĝin bone

I think this one is a good translation but to my ear it would sound better if it was “por fari” because it’s not clear whether the longe is describing fari or whether it is the subject of necesas.

Ne bezonas ke mi longe fari ĝin bone

This has the same problem as the first one.

Ne bezonas al mi longe fari ĝin bone

I think necesi is the right word rather than bezoni. Bezoni is a transitive verb so if you want to use it you really need to make mi be the subject like in my proposal at the top.

Regarding the word order, I think putting bone at the end sounds the best, otherwise putting it before fari works too. The latter is the natural word order but putting it at the end changes the emphasis and I think it better matches the meaning of the English sentence.

Answer 2

Ne daŭras longe al mi fari ĝin bone.

Answer 3

Mi dirus:

"ĝi ne necesas longe ke mi faru ĝin bone"

I believe you would require the subjunctive ("faru") in this sentence.

Answer 4

Mia propono: Ne necesas longe al mi fari ĝin bone.

Simila ekzemplo el Tekstaro:

Ne necesos longe al mi tualeti.

Answer 5

There is the bezoni = to need that is correct here, and not necesi = to be necessary.

Mi ne bezonas longan tempon por ke mi faru ĝin bone.
Mi ne bezonas longe por fari ĝin bone.

The normal word order would be:

Mi ne bezonas longe por bone fari ĝin.

But to stress that to do it well instead of floppy, bone can be put not in the normal order.

Answer 6

Mi dirus:

Mi ne bezonas longan tempon tion bone fari.