Breakdown of De les is van één tot drie uur.
zijn
to be
één
one
drie
three
het uur
the hour / o'clock
tot
until
de les
the lesson / the class
van
from (possession, starting point) / made of
Questions & Answers about De les is van één tot drie uur.
How do we use prepositions to show the duration of the lesson here?
You use the combination van (from) and tot (to or until). So van één tot drie translates directly as "from one to three". This is the standard way to express a start and end time in Dutch.
Why are there accent marks on the word één?
The accents show that this is the number "one". Without them, een is just the word for "a" or "an", which is pronounced with a short, soft "uh" sound. The accents tell you to pronounce it with a longer "ay" sound so people know you mean exactly one o'clock.
The sentence says "three o'clock," so why is uur in the singular form?
When telling time on the clock, Dutch always uses the singular uur. Even if it is three, ten, or twelve o'clock, you never use the plural uren to talk about points on the clock.
Do I have to say uur at the end, or can I just say the numbers?
In everyday speech, if it is already clear you are talking about a time schedule, you can easily drop uur. Saying De les is van één tot drie is perfectly normal and commonly used.
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