他花费很大劲去做某事
用cost和spend翻译可以是：
It cost him a lot to do sth.
这里的a lot可能是时间也可能是金钱,精力,感情和亲情关系（比如他做了这件事,得罪了父母,结果父子关系不好了）等等.
He spent a lot of time in doing sth.
He spent a lot of money on sth.
He spent a lot of money in buying sth.
或者用其他单词翻译.
It took him a lot of time to do sth.
spend和cost除了说花费时间或者钱,还可能是精力,感情,亲情,人际关系,等等.