Word
Hoeveel jaar duurt het project?
Meaning
How many years does the project take?
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Hoeveel jaar duurt het project?
het project
the project
duren
to last / to take time
hoeveel
how much / how many
het jaar
the year
Questions & Answers about Hoeveel jaar duurt het project?
Does hoeveel mean "how much" or "how many"?
Hoeveel is made of two words: hoe (how) and veel (much/many). It translates to both "how much" and "how many". You don't have to learn separate words for countable and uncountable things like you do in English!
Why is it jaar instead of the plural jaren?
In Dutch, units of time and measurement (like jaar for year, or uur for hour) are usually kept singular after numbers and after the question word hoeveel. So, Dutch literally asks "how much year".
What does the verb duren (duurt) mean here?
Duren means "to last" or "to take" specifically when talking about an amount of time. While English usually says a project "takes" a year, Dutch always uses duren to express how long an event lasts.
Why does duurt come before het project?
Because this is a question! When a sentence starts with a question word or phrase like hoeveel jaar, the verb (duurt) moves to the second position, right before the subject (het project).