El mandato dura cuatro años.

In Spanish, nouns are often used with an article more often than in English. Here, el mandato means the term of office / the mandate.

So El mandato dura cuatro años is the natural way to say The term lasts four years.

You can sometimes omit the article in other contexts, but in a simple statement like this, el is the normal choice.

Here, mandato usually refers to a term in office, especially in politics or public office.

For example, it can mean the period during which a president, mayor, or other official serves.

Depending on context, mandato can also mean mandate in the sense of an instruction or authority, but in this sentence, the meaning is clearly term of office.

Durar is the infinitive, meaning to last.

In the sentence, the verb is conjugated:

• durar = to last
• dura = it lasts

Since the subject is el mandato, which is third person singular, you use dura.

A few present-tense forms of durar are:

• yo duro = I last
• tú duras = you last
• él / ella / usted dura = he / she / it / you lasts

So El mandato dura... = The term lasts...

Because durar specifically means to last, which is the natural verb for talking about how long something continues.

So:

• El mandato dura cuatro años = The term lasts four years

Using ser or estar would not express duration in this way.

This is very similar to English, where we say:

• The meeting lasts two hours
• The movie lasts three hours

Spanish works the same way with durar.

In Spanish, when you say how long something lasts, you usually just give the amount of time directly after the verb:

• dura cuatro años
• duró dos meses
• durará una semana

Spanish does not normally use de in this structure.

So the pattern is:

[subject] + durar + length of time

Example:

• La película dura dos horas
• El curso dura seis meses

Because the sentence says cuatro años = four years.

In Spanish, as in English, a noun is plural after numbers greater than one:

• un año = one year
• dos años = two years
• cuatro años = four years

So año becomes años.

Because año and ano are completely different words in Spanish.

• año = year
• ano = anus

So the ñ is very important. It is a separate letter in Spanish, not just an n with a mark on it.

Pronunciation-wise, ñ sounds roughly like the ny in canyon.

So:

• año sounds approximately like AH-nyo

Yes, dura is present tense.

Spanish often uses the present tense to state facts, general truths, or fixed characteristics. Here, the sentence is simply stating a fact about the length of the term.

So even though the term covers a span of time, the present tense is natural:

• El mandato dura cuatro años = The term lasts four years

This is just like English, where we also use the present tense:

• The course lasts ten weeks
• The contract lasts one year

Yes. El mandato es de cuatro años is also correct and very natural.

There is a small difference in feel:

• El mandato dura cuatro años emphasizes how long it lasts
• El mandato es de cuatro años states its length

In many contexts, both are fine.

This sentence is standard Spanish and would be understood everywhere in the Spanish-speaking world.

In Spain, mandato is a normal word in political or official contexts, and the same is true in many other countries.

That said, depending on context, people might also use expressions like:

• el periodo de gobierno
• el cargo dura cuatro años
• la legislatura dura cuatro años

But El mandato dura cuatro años is perfectly standard and natural.