Breakdown of Hoeveel mensen werken hier?
hier
here
werken
to work
hoeveel
how much / how many
de mens
the human / the person
Questions & Answers about Hoeveel mensen werken hier?
Does hoeveel mean "how many" or "how much"?
It actually means both! Hoeveel is a combination of hoe (how) and veel (much/many). You can use it for countable things like mensen (people) as well as uncountable things like water or money.
Why is the verb werken not at the very beginning of the question?
In yes/no questions, the verb comes first. But when you ask a question using a question word, the verb comes right after the question phrase. In this sentence, the entire phrase Hoeveel mensen (How many people) acts as a single block at the start, so the verb werken takes the second spot immediately following it.
Why is the verb werken instead of werkt?
Because the subject is mensen (people), which is plural. Just like in English where we say "people work" (not "works"), Dutch uses the plural verb form werken to match a plural subject.
Is mensen the plural of man?
No, mensen is the plural of mens, which means a human being or person. Therefore, mensen simply translates to "people". If you wanted to specifically ask "How many men work here?", you would ask "Hoeveel mannen werken hier?".
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