Breakdown of Een kwartier is precies vijftien minuten.
zijn
to be
een
a/an
precies
exactly
vijftien
fifteen
het kwartier
quarter of an hour
de minuut
minute
Questions & Answers about Een kwartier is precies vijftien minuten.
Why does this sentence use kwartier instead of kwart?
Kwart means "a quarter" (1/4). You use it when reading the clock, like kwart voor acht (quarter to eight). But when you are talking about a duration of 15 minutes ("a quarter of an hour"), Dutch uses the special word kwartier.
Is there a special word like kwartier for "half an hour"?
No, kwartier is a bit of an exception! To say "half an hour", you just combine the regular words for half and hour: een half uur.
Is precies related to the English word "precise"?
Yes, they share the same origin! In Dutch, precies is a very common word used to mean "exactly" or "precisely".
Why does minuten only have one u when the singular word is minuut?
This happens because of Dutch spelling rules. When you add the plural -en to minuut, the syllables divide as mi-nu-ten. Because the u is now at the end of a syllable, it automatically makes a long sound, so the second u is dropped to keep the spelling clean.
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