COSTAR A ALGUIEN HACER ALGO

Question

holaLes ha costado mucho adaptarse a ese pueblo tan pequeño.They found it very difficult to adapt to that very small village.
would you be able to sayles costía mucho adaptarse a esse pueblo tan pequenoLes costó mucho adaptarse a un pueblo tan pequeño.
saludjulie

Silvia Piriz · Accepted Answer

Hola Julie F.
The correct sentence would be: "Les costó mucho adaptarse a un pueblo tan pequeño." This translates as "They found it very difficult to adapt to such a small village."
"Costó" is the right past tense here (pretérito indefinido), as it refers to a completed action. The structure "costar a alguien hacer algo" means that someone finds something difficult to do. Also, just to clarify, "costía" isn't a valid verb form, perhaps you meant "costaba", but that would suggest a repeated or ongoing difficulty, which doesn’t quite fit your sentence.
Hope this clears it up!
All the best
Silvia