How long?

Wie lange?

Ask about duration, give an approximate length of time and understand a finishing time.

Wie lange asks about length of time. Etwa eine Stunde gives an approximate duration. Bis fünf Uhr gives an end time instead: it does not tell you the total duration unless you know when the activity starts. Keep hours of duration separate from clock times.

For the direct question in this lesson, use Wie lange dauert das? The verb follows the question phrase. Learn etwa eine Stunde as a duration and bis fünf Uhr as an end-time expression.

You can ask how long a familiar task takes and hear about an hour. In a conversation about today’s work, until five tells you when someone finishes, not necessarily how many hours they work.

Do not translate bis fünf Uhr as for five hours. Do not treat etwa as an exact promise. The example Wie lange das dauert? is not the ordinary direct-question pattern practised here; that word order can occur in other question contexts.

Duration: eine Stunde. Approximation: etwa. Endpoint: bis fünf Uhr. Ask what kind of time information the answer actually provides.

Match each answer to the information it gives: duration or endpoint. Practise the direct questions without adding harder grammar. Do not infer an exact work duration from an endpoint alone.