Der ligger vådt sand ved klitten, så vi tager skoene af, før vi går videre.

Here der is a kind of dummy subject, similar to English there in sentences like There is wet sand...

So:

• Der ligger vådt sand ... = There is wet sand ...

It does not mean there as a place in this sentence. It is just used to introduce the existence or presence of something.

This pattern is very common in Danish:

• Der står en bil udenfor. = There is a car parked outside.
• Der sidder en mand på bænken. = There is a man sitting on the bench.

Danish often prefers a position verb where English might simply use is.

Here, ligger literally means lies / is lying. It is used because sand is understood as something lying on the ground.

So:

• Der ligger vådt sand ved klitten = literally There lies wet sand by the dune
• More natural English meaning: There is wet sand by the dune

Other common position verbs are:

• ligge = lie
• stå = stand
• sidde = sit

For example:

• Der ligger en bog på bordet.
• Der står en kop i køkkenet.
• Der sidder et barn i bilen.

You could sometimes say der er, but der ligger is more vivid and more idiomatic here.

Because sand is a neuter noun in Danish: et sand.

Adjectives in Danish usually agree with the noun they describe. In the singular:

• common gender (en word): adjective often has no -t
• neuter (et word): adjective often gets -t

So:

• våd jord = wet soil
• vådt sand = wet sand

That is why the adjective is vådt here.

Ved usually means by, near, or beside.

So:

• ved klitten = by the dune / near the dune

Klit means dune, and klitten is the definite singular form:

• en klit = a dune
• klitten = the dune

Danish usually adds the definite article to the end of the noun rather than using a separate word like English the.

Skoene means the shoes.

Forms:

• en sko = a shoe
• sko = shoes
• skoene = the shoes

In tage skoene af, Danish uses the definite form because it means taking off the shoes we are wearing / our shoes. This is very natural in Danish.

English often uses a possessive:

• we take off our shoes

But Danish frequently uses the definite form instead:

• vi tager skoene af

That does not sound strange in Danish.

Because tage af is a verb + particle combination, similar to English take off.

In an ordinary main clause, the object often comes between the verb and the particle:

• vi tager skoene af = we take the shoes off

In the infinitive, the parts stay together more clearly:

• at tage skoene af

This is very similar to English:

• take off your shoes
• take your shoes off

So tage ... af works much like take ... off.

Because så here is being used as a conjunction meaning so.

When så links two clauses like this, the next clause keeps normal main-clause order:

• så vi tager skoene af

That is, subject + verb.

If så were used more like an adverb in first position, you could get inversion:

• Så tager vi skoene af. = Then/So we take off our shoes.

So compare:

• Der ligger vådt sand ved klitten, så vi tager skoene af.
• Det er vådt. Så tager vi skoene af.

Both are correct, but they are structured differently.

Because før introduces a subordinate clause: before we continue / before we go on.

In Danish subordinate clauses, the subject normally comes before the finite verb:

• før vi går videre

That is the normal order.

A useful comparison:

• Main clause: Vi går videre.
• Subordinate clause: ... før vi går videre.

If there were a sentence adverb like ikke, you would clearly see the subordinate-clause pattern:

• før vi ikke går videre would show the adverb before the main verb structure typical of subordinate clauses, though that exact sentence is unnatural in meaning.

The key point is: after før, Danish uses subordinate clause word order.

Gå videre means go on, continue, or literally walk further/onward, depending on context.

In this sentence, it probably means something like:

• continue walking
• go on
• move on

So før vi går videre means before we continue or before we walk on.

Videre often carries the idea of further / onward / ahead.

Danish often uses the present tense for something that is about to happen or is part of the immediate situation.

So:

• vi tager skoene af can mean we take off our shoes, we’re taking off our shoes, or we’ll take off our shoes
• før vi går videre can mean before we continue

This is very normal and often sounds more natural than using an explicit future form.

Danish does have ways to express the future, such as vil, but it is not necessary here.

Yes, you could, and it would be understood.

But there is a small difference in feel:

• Der er vådt sand ved klitten = more neutral, simply stating that wet sand is there
• Der ligger vådt sand ved klitten = more concrete and natural for something physically lying on the ground

So ligger fits the scene especially well.

No, but it is a natural one.

• ved klitten = by/near the dune
• på klitten = on the dune
• i klitten = in the dune, which would usually suggest being inside it somehow and is less likely here

So ved is chosen because the sand is located next to / by the dune, not on top of it.

A rough literal breakdown is:

• Der = there
• ligger = lies / is lying
• vådt sand = wet sand
• ved klitten = by the dune
• så = so
• vi tager skoene af = we take the shoes off
• før vi går videre = before we go further / continue

So a very literal version would be:

There lies wet sand by the dune, so we take the shoes off before we go further.

That is not the most natural English translation, but it helps show how the Danish sentence is built.