how long

English

Adjective

how long

1. Used literally: what length.

   How long is that piece of string?

   I don't know how long the Amazon River is.

2. Used literally: what duration.

   How long is the flight?

   How long is it to lunch?

Derived terms

• How long is a piece of string?

Translations

how long (distance)

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 多長／多长 (duō cháng)

• Dutch: hoe lang
• Estonian: kui kaua
• Finnish: kuinka pitkä
• German: wie lange
• Hungarian: milyen hosszú, (what size in general) mekkora (hu)
• Macedonian: колку долг (kolku dolg)
• Russian: како́й длины́ (kakój dliný)
• Spanish: que largo

Adverb

how long

1. Used literally: for what duration.

   How long have you lived in Chicago?

   He won't tell me how long he is going to stay.

   • 1898, J. Meade Falkner, chapter 4, in Moonfleet, London, Toronto, Ont.: Jonathan Cape, published 1934:

     How long I slept I cannot tell, for I had nothing to guide me to the time, but woke at length, and found myself still in darkness.

Translations

how long (length of time)

• Arabic: كَم وَقْتًا (kam waqtan), إِلَى مَتَى (ʔilā matā)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 多久 (zh) (duōjiǔ)

• Danish: hvor længe
• Finnish: kuinka pitkään, kuinka kauan
• French: pour combien de temps, depuis combien de temps, depuis quand, combien de temps
• Georgian: რამდენი ხნით (ramdeni xnit), რამდენ ხანს (ramden xans), რა ხანგრძლივობით (ra xangrʒlivobit), რა ხანგრძლივობის (ra xangrʒlivobis)
• German: wie lange
• Hebrew: כַּמָּה זְמַן (káma zman), עַד מָתַי (he) ('ad matáy)
• Hungarian: (excluding the present) meddig (hu), mennyi ideig, (including the present) mióta (hu), mennyi ideje
• Italian: quanto tempo, da quando
• Japanese: どの位 (どのくらい, donokurai), どの位 (どのぐらい, donogurai), どれくらい (dorekurai), どれぐらい (doregurai)
• Khmer: ប៉ុន្មានត (ponmaan tɑɑ), យូរប៉ុណ្ណា (yuu ponnaa)
• Korean: 얼마나 (ko) (eolmana)
• Lao: ດົນປານໃດ (don pān dai)
• Latin: quamdiu
• Ngazidja Comorian: muda hindri
• Norman: combian d'temps (Guernsey)
• Polish: jak długo
• Portuguese: quanto tempo (literally “how much time”), desde quando (literally “since when”)
• Russian: как до́лго (kak dólgo), ско́лько (ru) (skólʹko)
• Serbo-Croatian: koliko dugo?
• Spanish: cuánto tiempo, desde cuándo
• Swedish: hur länge
• Telugu: ఎందాక (te) (endāka)
• Thai: นานแค่ไหน (naan kâe năi), นานเท่าไร (naan tâo rai)
• Vietnamese: bao lâu (vi)