Die stemming duur nie lank nie.

Because standard Afrikaans usually makes a sentence negative with nie ... nie.

In this sentence:

• duur = the verb
• nie lank = not long
• the final nie closes the negative sentence

So the pattern is:

subject + verb + nie + rest + nie

That is one of the most common things English speakers notice about Afrikaans.

Die is the definite article, usually equivalent to English the.

A useful thing to remember is that Afrikaans uses die for:

• singular nouns
• plural nouns
• all genders

So it is much simpler than languages that change the article depending on gender or case.

Yes, here duur is a verb meaning to last.

Afrikaans duur can also be an adjective meaning expensive, but that is a different use.

So:

• 'n duur motor = an expensive car
• Die stemming duur nie lank nie = here duur means lasts

Its position in the sentence shows that it is the verb.

This is a very common question.

In Afrikaans:

• lang is usually used before a noun
• lank is used after the verb or as an adverb/predicative form

So you get:

• 'n lang wagtyd
• Dit duur lank
• Die stemming duur nie lank nie

Since lank is describing how long the action lasts, lank is the correct form here.

Afrikaans main clauses normally put the finite verb in second position.

So the structure is:

• Die stemming = subject
• duur = finite verb
• nie lank nie = the rest of the predicate, in negative form

This is very similar to normal word order in many simple English sentences:

• The vote lasts ...

If you move something else to the front, the verb still stays second:

• Vandag duur die stemming nie lank nie.

No. Afrikaans verbs usually do not change form for person or number in the present tense.

So Afrikaans keeps duur regardless of the subject:

• die proses duur
• die prosesse duur

That is simpler than English, where you have last but lasts.

Stemming is a noun, and in this sentence it is the subject.

The ending -ing often forms nouns in Afrikaans, a bit like English noun forms such as meeting or voting.

So even if you already know the meaning from context, grammatically the important point is:

• stemming is the thing doing the action in the sentence
• it is what duur refers to

Usually, no—not in the same way.

Afrikaans commonly says:

• Dit duur lank
• Dit duur nie lank nie

With the verb duur, lank and nie lank nie are the natural choices.

Kort is common in other structures, for example before a noun:

• 'n kort tyd

So for this sentence, nie lank nie is the idiomatic way to say it.

You would normally say:

Die stemming het nie lank geduur nie.

Here:

• het = auxiliary verb
• geduur = past participle of duur

So the pattern becomes:

subject + het + nie + rest + past participle + nie

That is a very common past-tense pattern in Afrikaans.