कितने दिन लगेंगे?

How many days will it take?

Breakdown of कितने दिन लगेंगे?

• कितने दिन: how many days?
• लगना: to take (time)

Questions & Answers about कितने दिन लगेंगे?

What does each word in कितने दिन लगेंगे? do?

A natural word-by-word breakdown is:

• कितने = how many
• दिन = days
• लगेंगे = will take / will be needed

So the structure is basically:

• how many days + will take?

Hindi often leaves out the English dummy subject it, so where English says How many days will it take?, Hindi simply says कितने दिन लगेंगे?

Why is it कितने and not कितना?

Because कितना changes form to agree with the noun it describes.

Here, it describes दिन (days), which is masculine plural, so the correct form is:

• masculine singular: कितना
• masculine plural: कितने
• feminine singular/plural: कितनी

Since दिन is treated as masculine plural here, you get:

• कितने दिन

Compare:

• कितना समय लगेगा? = How much time will it take?
  (समय is masculine singular)
• कितने दिन लगेंगे? = How many days will it take?

Why does दिन stay दिन instead of changing for plural?