Questions & Answers about Dit voedsel is heel lang houdbaar.
How is the word houdbaar formed?
Is houdbaar only used when talking about food?
It is most frequently used for groceries to mean 'non-perishable' or to talk about shelf life, such as in the common compound word houdbaarheidsdatum (expiration date). However, you will also see it used for abstract concepts like theories or arguments to mean 'tenable' or 'defensible'.
Why does the sentence use heel lang instead of a phrase like voor een heel lange tijd?
While voor een heel lange tijd is grammatically correct, Dutch heavily prefers using just the adverbial phrase heel lang (very long) to express duration. Dropping the preposition makes the sentence sound much more natural and concise to native speakers.
Why do we use Dit with voedsel instead of Deze?
The noun voedsel is a neuter noun (a het word). When pointing out 'this' specific item, you must use dit for singular neuter nouns. You would use deze for singular de words or any plural nouns.