De bus vertrekt om veertien uur.

Because bus is a de-word in Dutch. Nouns in Dutch take either de or het, and this usually has to be learned with the noun.

So:

• de bus = correct
• het bus = incorrect

A useful extra note:

• singular: de bus
• plural: de bussen
• diminutive: het busje

The verb is vertrekken. In this sentence, the subject is de bus, which is third-person singular, so the present tense form is vertrekt.

Present tense of vertrekken:

• ik vertrek
• jij vertrekt
• u vertrekt
• hij/zij/het vertrekt
• de bus vertrekt

So de bus vertrekt works the same way as he leaves in English: the subject is singular, so the verb takes the third-person singular form.

This is normal Dutch main-clause word order:

De bus + vertrekt + om veertien uur

So:

• subject: de bus
• finite verb: vertrekt
• time expression: om veertien uur

Dutch main clauses usually put the finite verb in second position. That is one of the most important word-order rules in Dutch.

In Dutch, om is the normal preposition used for a specific clock time.

So:

• om veertien uur
• om twee uur
• om half drie

It often corresponds to English at:

• at 14:00 → om veertien uur

Dutch often uses the 24-hour clock, especially in:

• timetables
• announcements
• formal contexts
• travel information

So veertien uur means 14:00.

In less formal everyday speech, people might also say:

• om twee uur
• om twee uur 's middags

All of these can refer to the same time, but veertien uur sounds especially natural in schedules and transport contexts.

In clock-time expressions, Dutch normally uses uur after the number:

• één uur
• twee uur
• veertien uur

So veertien uur is correct.

Even though uren is the plural form of uur, you usually do not use uren when giving the time of day.

Yes. If you put the time expression first, Dutch changes the word order because of the verb-second rule.

You get:

Om veertien uur vertrekt de bus.

Notice what happens:

• om veertien uur comes first
• the verb vertrekt still stays in second position
• the subject de bus moves after the verb

That is completely normal Dutch word order.

A rough guide:

• ver- often sounds like fur- or vər-, depending on accent
• trekt rhymes roughly with English trekt, but with a Dutch r and Dutch final t

A broad approximation for English speakers is:

• fur-TREKT

A couple of details:

• the v in Dutch may sound softer than English v, sometimes almost like f
• the r depends a lot on region
• the final t should be clearly pronounced

A rough pronunciation guide:

• veertien ≈ VAYR-teen, but with a pure vowel, not the English glide in day
• uur has a vowel that does not really exist in English

The hardest part is uur:

• it is a long front rounded vowel
• you can think of it as saying ee while rounding your lips

A rough approximation is:

• veer-TEEN uur

But the real Dutch uu sound takes practice, and English does not have an exact equivalent.

Yes. Vertrekken is very common for buses, trains, planes, and people leaving or departing.

Examples:

• De trein vertrekt om acht uur.
• Het vliegtuig vertrekt morgen.

For transport, vertrekken often sounds a bit more natural than a literal translation like leaves. In travel and timetable language, it is exactly the kind of verb you expect.

Yes, that is possible, but it is less typical for a timetable-style sentence.

Compare:

• De bus vertrekt om veertien uur. → natural for schedules, announcements, formal travel information
• De bus gaat om veertien uur weg. → understandable, more everyday, a little less standard for transport information

So if you are talking about buses, trains, or departures on a schedule, vertrekt is the best choice.

It is completely normal Dutch, but it sounds especially natural in a transport or schedule context.

Why?

• vertrekt is a standard timetable verb
• veertien uur uses the 24-hour clock

So the sentence sounds like something you might read or hear:

• at a station
• on a departure board
• in a travel app
• in an announcement

In casual conversation, someone might more often say De bus vertrekt om twee uur if the context already makes it clear that it is in the afternoon.