彼の家を見つけるのに時間がかかった。

he; him; his; boyfriend

indicates possessive; nominalizes verbs and adjectives; substitutes for "ga" in subordinate phrases; (at sentence-end, falling tone) indicates a confident conclusion; (at sentence-end) indicates emotional emphasis; (at sentence-end, rising tone) indicates question

house; residence; dwelling; family; household; lineage; family name

indicates direct object of action; indicates subject of causative expression; indicates an area traversed; indicates time (period) over which action takes place; indicates point of departure or separation of action; indicates object of desire, like, hate, etc.

to discover; to find (e.g. an error in a book); to come across; to detect; to spot; to locate; to find (e.g. something missing); to find fault; to be used to seeing; to be familiar with

at (place, time); in; on; during; to (direction, state); toward; into; for (purpose); because of (reason); for; with; by; from; as (i.e. in the role of); per; in; for; a (e.g. "once a month"); and; in addition to; if; although

time; hours

indicates sentence subject (occasionally object); indicates possessive (esp. in literary expressions); but; however; still; and

to take (a resource, e.g. time or money); to hang; to come into view; to arrive; to come under (a contract, a tax); to start (engines, motors); to attend; to deal with; to handle; to have started to; to be on the verge of; to overlap (e.g. information in a manual); to cover; to (come) at; to be fastened; to be covered (e.g. with dust, a table-cloth, etc.); to be caught in; to get a call; to depend on