Is there any difference between metterci and volerci? Sometimes, there can be a subtle difference in meaning.

I wrote this sentence to my Italian friend:

Mi dispiace averci messo così tanto a responderti.

Could volerci have been used in this context?

Can someone please explain this type of word, and are there other verbs with "ci" that take on a new meaning? The more Italian I learn the more I find out how much more there is to learn.

pat

This is a minefield! Here is a short explanation:
Volerci means to be necessary (occorrere) and is used as follows:

ci vuole molto tempo per farlo (occorre molto tempo per farlo)
ci vogliono molte ore per farlo (occorrono molte ore per farlo)

to say "I need" using this construction you would say:
mi ci vuole ......
mi ci vogliono.....

or "you need" you would say:

ti ci vuole...
ti ci vogliono...

You might prefer to say "mi/ti serve.....- mi/ti servono....." or "ho/hai bisogno di..."

Some examples with other tenses are:

c'è voluto molto tempo per farlo
ci sono volute molte ore per farlo

ci vorrebbe molto tempo per farlo
ci vorrebbero molte ore per farlo

metterci means to take (in the sense of time or effort)- examples:

ci ho messo molta cura (I took (gave it) a lot of care)
ci hai messo molta cura ( you.....)
ci ha messo molta cura ( He/she....) etc

ci ho messo tre quarti d'ora (I took three quarters of an hour)
ci hai messo tre quarti d'ora (you...)
ci ha messo tre quarti d'ora (he/she....)

The direct answer to your question is no, as I hope you can see from the above. The fact that volerci means "to be necessary" means that it can only be used in the third person singular or plural when it has this meaning.

Looking again at your original post, I thought you might like to know how to use volerci to say what you said using metterci:

Mi dispiace che mi ci sia voluto tanto a risponderti

quote:

This is a minefield!

You do very well in minefields...your explanation is molto buono! Mille grazie!

I took your post to class, and along with the explanation in the dictionary, we have a better understanding of the use of these words.

"Mi dispiace che mi ci sia voluto tanto a risponderti"

I have not studied the subjunctive enough to be able to use it comfortably. When I write to Lucia and say something like, penso che, I have to look up the proper conjugation...it takes me (volerci) a long time to write to her as I try to be as correct as possible. I do need to work on this!

Vasco, da dove sei? Italia??

ancora, grazie........pat