I vores afdeling ligger vægten på respekt og ansvar.

Because Danish often puts a time phrase, place phrase, or other context first.

Here, I vores afdeling sets the scene: in our department.

When that kind of phrase comes first in a main clause, Danish uses V2 word order, which means the finite verb must come next. That is why you get:

I vores afdeling ligger vægten på respekt og ansvar

and not:

I vores afdeling vægten ligger ...

So the first phrase is there to give context, and it also affects the word order.

In English, the subject usually comes before the verb. In Danish main clauses, the rule is different: the finite verb must be in second position.

The sentence begins with I vores afdeling, which takes the first position. That forces the verb ligger into second position, and the subject vægten comes after it.

So the structure is:

• I vores afdeling = first position
• ligger = second position, the finite verb
• vægten = subject

If you put the subject first, you would get:

Vægten ligger på respekt og ansvar i vores afdeling

That is grammatically possible, but it sounds less natural for this message.

Yes, it is basically an idiomatic way to talk about emphasis.

Literally, ligger means lies or is located, and vægten means the weight. But in this sentence, it does not mean physical weight. The phrase means something like:

• the emphasis is on
• importance is placed on
• the focus is on

So vægten ligger på respekt og ansvar means that respect and responsibility are what the department considers important.

Because Danish often uses the definite form in this expression.

• vægt = weight
• vægten = the weight

In this kind of abstract expression, vægten is understood as the emphasis. Danish commonly says:

• vægten ligger på ...
• lægge vægt på ...

So the definite form sounds natural here. It is not talking about a specific physical weight; it is part of a standard way of expressing emphasis.

Because lægge vægt på and vægten ligger på are fixed combinations in Danish.

The preposition på is the normal one after this idea of putting emphasis on something.

So you learn it as a chunk:

• lægge vægt på noget = to place emphasis on something
• vægten ligger på noget = the emphasis is on something

Even if another preposition might seem possible from an English perspective, på is the one Danish uses here.

Because vores already acts as a determiner.

In Danish, you normally do not use an article together with a possessive:

• vores afdeling = our department
• not vores en afdeling
• not vores afdelingen

This is similar to English: you say our department, not our the department.

Both exist, but vores is the normal modern form in everyday Danish.

• vores = standard modern our
• vor = a shorter form that is more formal, literary, old-fashioned, or fixed in certain expressions

So vores afdeling is what most learners should use.

Because they are being used as general abstract nouns.

In this sentence, respekt and ansvar mean the general qualities of respect and responsibility, not specific individual instances. Danish often leaves abstract nouns without articles in this kind of statement.

Compare the idea in English:

• We value respect and responsibility
• not necessarily the respect and the responsibility

So på respekt og ansvar sounds natural because the sentence is talking about those values in general.

Yes. Although ligge often means physically to lie or to be located, Danish also uses it metaphorically.

For example, Danish can use ligge for:

• emphasis
• responsibility
• blame
• focus
• importance

So in this sentence, ligger does not describe physical position. It describes where the department’s emphasis metaphorically rests.

Yes. A very common alternative is:

I vores afdeling lægger vi vægt på respekt og ansvar

This literally means In our department, we place emphasis on respect and responsibility.

Another common version is:

Der lægges vægt på respekt og ansvar i vores afdeling

This is more impersonal, like Emphasis is placed on respect and responsibility in our department.

So your original sentence is correct and natural, but learners will probably also meet these two versions very often.

The subject is vægten.

That can be confusing because it comes after the verb, but due to Danish V2 word order, that is completely normal.

So the core of the clause is:

• vægten = subject
• ligger = verb
• på respekt og ansvar = prepositional phrase

The opening phrase I vores afdeling is just the fronted context phrase.