Dit examen kost veel moeite.

This exam takes a lot of effort.

Breakdown of Dit examen kost veel moeite.

• veel: a lot
• dit: this
• het examen: the exam
• kosten: to cost
• de moeite: the effort

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.

Why is there no article before moeite in veel moeite?

After quantity words like veel (a lot of), you drop the article when speaking of uncountable or plural nouns. Moeite here is uncountable (“effort”). If you wanted to refer to a specific effort, you could say de moeite, but that changes the meaning.

When can I use veel in front of a noun?

You use veel to mean “many” or “a lot of” with:

• Plural countable nouns: veel boeken (many books)
• Uncountable nouns: veel water, veel moeite

You don’t inflect veel; it stays the same regardless of noun gender or number.

Could I say het examen neemt veel moeite instead?

Not really. Neemt veel moeite isn’t idiomatic in Dutch. Instead, you might say:

• Het examen kost veel moeite.
• Het examen is erg moeilijk.
• Je moet veel moeite doen voor het examen.

Each version shifts nuance slightly but only kost veel moeite uses kosten to express required effort.

What’s the difference between kost veel moeite and is moeilijk?

• Kost veel moeite: Emphasizes the effort you personally have to invest.
• Is moeilijk: Emphasizes the exam’s inherent difficulty or complexity.

So an exam could kosten veel moeite even if it’s not objectively very difficult—maybe it’s just very time-consuming or requires careful work.