Asking to know about the timing of a per class

English as a Second Language English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms
1

Hello,
Suppose that a tutor wants to teach me and I want to ask him how long the class will take but I’m not sure how
to ask it. These are my self-made examples: Suppose that per session is “1:30 minutes” (one hour and a half)

  1. May I know how long your class take?
  2. May I know how many minutes does your class take long?
  3. May I know how long does your tutoring take long?
  4. May I know how long does your private lessons take long?
  5. May I know how long your individual class take long?

I’m confused. I don’t know how to ask or know the timing of per class (session). What’s the proper way to ask it?

Thank you

2

Hi.

There is some confusion between the two verbs ‘take’ and ‘last’. ‘Take’ when used for time refers to the time necessary to do something: How long does your journey to work take? How long does it take you to do your housework? ‘Last’ on the other hand refers to duration and is the verb you need when you are talking about your private lessons: How long does your private lesson last? How long does your class last?

Alan

3

Alan, to add a little more to what you have said, I would say two questions are not acceptable in a single sentence. I hope you will agree with me.

  1. May I know how long your class lasts (or will last)?
  2. May I know how many minutes your class will take?
  3. May I know how long your tutoring lasts?
  4. May I know how long your private lessons last?
  5. May I know how long your individual class lasts?
4

Alan has suggested two far more natural ways of asking this question.

5

Alan, are you in accord with me when I say ‘May I know how long your class lasts?’ is more polite and formal than ‘How long does your class last?’

6

I have no problem with polite additions to the questions but my original object was to explain the bare bones of ‘take’ and ‘last’.

7

Thanks, Alan.

8

Everybody, thanks for answering.

9

So formal that it is not as natural. Sb asked for 'the proper way to ask it.
Could it be that you are, at least, acknowledging the existence of my post?

10

what’s the difference between these two?

How long does your class take?
How long does your class last?

Do these work in my context?

11

As Alan indicates in message #2, ‘last’ is the version you need in your context.

12

Everybody, thanks for answering.