Word
Werkt u tot kwart voor twee?
Meaning
Do you work until a quarter to two?
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Questions & Answers about Werkt u tot kwart voor twee?
Why is there no "een" (a) before kwart like in English?
When telling time in Dutch, you don't use a word for "a" before kwart (quarter). You simply say kwart voor (quarter to) or kwart over (quarter past).
Why does werkt keep its -t ending in a question? I thought we drop the -t for "you".
The rule to drop the -t in questions only applies to the informal jij or je (for example: werk jij?). This sentence uses the formal u, and formal u always keeps the -t ending, even in questions (werkt u?).
Why does the sentence start with the verb?
To make a yes/no question in Dutch, you swap the order of the subject and the verb. Instead of the statement u werkt (you work), you say werkt u? (do you work?).
Can I use tot to mean "until" for any time?
Yes! tot is the standard Dutch word for "until" or "till". You can use it with clock times like tot kwart voor twee (until a quarter to two) or with days, like in the common phrase tot morgen (until tomorrow).