have time or the time

[Will17]

Hello,

I don't know what to think.... Do we need "the" in the following sentence, please?

"I'm sorry I didn't have time/the time to inform you soon enough".

Cheers

Will

[SoothingDave]

Either way. I like it without.

[~Mav~]

I don't know what to think.... Do we need "the" in the following sentence, please?

"I'm sorry I didn't have time/the time to inform you soon enough".

In addition to SoothingDave's excellent and concise reply, I would like to point out that if you change the sentence as follows, you have to include "the":
"I couldn't inform you, because I didn't have the time."
If you left out "the" in the previous sentence, it would mean you had no time at all, because "time" is not qualified by anything. But, in your original sentence, "time" is qualified by "to inform you"; "time" doesn't need qualification by "the", because it's qualified by "to inform".

A better example to deal with this question:

A: I'll sell you a car for $ 2000.
B: I'm sorry, but I don't have the money.
This does NOT mean that B has no money at all; he just doesn't have the (amount of) money asked for.

I hope this helps.

PS: Credit goes to Raymott, for I learned this from him.