Word
De overdracht van het perceel duurde anderhalf uur.
Meaning
The transfer of the plot took an hour and a half.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of De overdracht van het perceel duurde anderhalf uur.
het uur
the hour / o'clock
duren
to last / to take time
van
from (possession, starting point) / made of
anderhalf
one and a half
Questions & Answers about De overdracht van het perceel duurde anderhalf uur.
Could I use a formal preposition of topic like inzake or aangaande instead of van here?
No, because van shows a direct relationship ('the transfer OF the plot'). Formal prepositions like inzake, omtrent, or aangaande mean 'regarding' or 'concerning'. You would use them for something like a discussion or an agreement, such as: de vergadering aangaande het perceel (the meeting regarding the plot).
Why is 'one and a half' translated as anderhalf rather than literally?
Dutch has a dedicated word for 'one and a half': anderhalf (used for neuter words like uur) or anderhalve (used for common words like week). You cannot translate 'one and a half' word-for-word into Dutch.
Since it is more than one hour, why is uur in the singular form?
In Dutch, certain nouns of measurement, weight, and time (such as uur, jaar, kilo, and meter) almost always stay in the singular form when they directly follow a number.
The English translation says the transfer 'took' time. Why use duurde instead of a form of nemen (to take)?