Breakdown of Hoeveel personen zijn hier?
hier
here
hoeveel
how much / how many
de persoon
the person (an individual)
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Questions & Answers about Hoeveel personen zijn hier?
Does hoeveel mean "how much" or "how many"?
It actually means both! Unlike English, which has separate words for things you can count (how many) and things you cannot (how much), Dutch just uses hoeveel for everything. In this sentence, it translates to "how many" because we are counting people.
Why use personen instead of mensen here?
Both words translate to "people" in English. However, personen is specifically used when counting exact numbers of individuals, such as asking for a table at a restaurant or checking a room's capacity. Mensen is used for "people" in a more general sense.
Why does the verb zijn come after the noun rather than right after the question word?
In Dutch, the verb must be the second piece of information in the sentence. Here, the question word hoeveel and the noun it belongs to (personen) stick together to form a single block of information. That entire phrase takes the first spot, so the verb zijn (are) is pushed to the second spot.
Why is the verb zijn and not is?
Because personen (persons/people) is a plural noun, we have to use the plural form of the verb to match it. Zijn means "are", while is means "is".