Dit examen kost veel moeite.

a lot

Breakdown of Dit examen kost veel moeite.

• dit: this
• het examen: the exam
• kosten: to cost

Questions & Answers about Dit examen kost veel moeite.

Why do we say dit examen instead of deze examen?

In Dutch, demonstrative pronouns agree with the gender of the noun. Examen is a neuter noun (het-examen), so you must use dit. You would use deze only with de-nouns (common gender) or plural nouns (e.g. deze kant, deze examens).

What does the verb kost mean in this sentence?

Here kost is the 3rd-person-singular present form of kosten, literally “to cost.” It doesn’t refer to money in this case but to the effort required, so you can translate the sentence as “This exam takes a lot of effort.”

How do you conjugate kosten in the present tense?

Singular and plural conjugation looks like this:

• Ik kost (rarely used with personal subject for effort)
• Jij/U kost
• Hij/Zij/Het kost
• Wij/Jullie/Zij kosten

In practice, you’ll most often hear het kost (it takes) or dat kost (that takes).

Why is there no article (like een or de) before examen?

Because dit already functions like a demonstrative article. You never combine dit with het or een. If you wanted to say “an exam,” you’d use een examen; for “the exam,” you’d say het examen.