Delay and lateness in Spanish

Talk about delays in travel and everyday plans.

The idea

The masculine noun el retraso means delay; un retraso is a delay and los retrasos are delays. con retraso means late.

El tren llega con retraso.The train arrives late.
El retraso del vuelo fue de dos horas.The flight delay was two hours.
Avisaron del retraso por teléfono.They reported the delay by phone.
Los retrasos afectan a varias entregas.The delays affect several deliveries.
Lamento el retraso en mi respuesta.I am sorry for the delay in my reply.
La lluvia causó un retraso en la obra.Rain caused a delay in the construction work.

Read-aloud uses a synthetic Spanish voice available on your device. Voice quality and availability vary; it does not assess your pronunciation.

Do not say con un retraso when simply describing a late arrival; use con retraso. A duration can follow un retraso, as in un retraso de una hora.

Choose the article: ___ retraso preocupa al equipo. (El / La)
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El
El agrees with the masculine noun.
Choose the plural: Hubo dos ___ esta semana. (retrasos / retraso)
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retrasos
retrasos names more than one delay.
Choose the word for a delay: El avión llegó tarde: hubo un ___. (retraso / asiento)
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retraso
retraso fits an arrival after the expected time.

Describe a delay and its length. Say why it happened.