Questions & Answers about Wij zitten op het balkon dat in het zuiden ligt.
Why do we use dat instead of die in this sentence?
Because it refers back to het balkon. Since balkon is a het-word (a neuter noun), we must use the relative pronoun dat to say 'that' or 'which'. If we were talking about a de-word, like de tuin (the garden), we would use die.
Why does the verb ligt go at the very end of the sentence?
The second part of the sentence (dat in het zuiden ligt) is a relative clause, meaning it gives extra information about the balcony. In Dutch, a relative clause follows the rules of a subclause, so the conjugated verb (ligt) gets pushed to the very end of that clause.
Could I just say dat in het zuiden is instead of using ligt?
You would be understood, but native Dutch speakers strongly prefer positional verbs like liggen (to lie), staan (to stand), or zitten (to sit) to express where things are located. We use liggen here because geographical regions and flat areas on a map typically 'lie' somewhere.
Why does the sentence use zitten instead of a verb for 'we are'?