De bus rijdt zeventig kilometer.

Because bus is a de-word in Dutch. Dutch singular nouns normally take either de or het, and you have to learn that with each noun.

So:

• de bus
• plural: de bussen

There is no rule here that would let you predict het instead.

Rijdt is the present tense, third-person singular form of rijden.

The subject is de bus, which is singular, so Dutch uses rijdt.

Compare:

• ik rijd
• jij rijdt
• de bus rijdt
• wij rijden

Yes. Very naturally.

In Dutch, rijden is used not only for a person driving a vehicle, but also for the vehicle itself moving on wheels. So a bus, car, truck, or train can all be the subject of rijden.

So De bus rijdt is completely normal Dutch.

Dutch often uses a bare measurement phrase after a verb of movement to express distance.

So zeventig kilometer means the distance covered. Dutch does not need an extra word like for or a distance of here.

Structure:

• De bus rijdt zeventig kilometer
• literally: The bus drives/travels seventy kilometer

This is a common Dutch pattern with distances, times, prices, and other measurements.

After a number, Dutch very often uses units of measure in the basic form, especially in straightforward quantity expressions.

So these are normal:

• twee kilometer
• vijf euro
• drie uur
• zeventig kilometer

For learners, number + unit in the basic form is the safest pattern to remember.

By itself, it means distance.

So De bus rijdt zeventig kilometer means the bus covers a distance of 70 kilometers.

If you want to say 70 kilometers per hour, you need:

• De bus rijdt zeventig kilometer per uur

Without per uur, a Dutch speaker will normally understand it as distance, not speed.

Because Dutch main clauses usually put the finite verb in second position.

Here the sentence is:

• De bus = first element
• rijdt = second element

After that, Dutch places other information, such as distance, time, or place. So zeventig kilometer comes after the verb in a very normal way.

Not with the same meaning.

Gaan means to go, and it is common for destinations:

• De bus gaat naar Utrecht

But for a vehicle moving or covering distance, rijden is the natural verb:

• De bus rijdt zeventig kilometer

So rijden is the better choice here.

Roughly, it sounds a bit like rayt.

Two useful points:

• ij is a Dutch vowel sound that English does not match exactly, but ay is a rough guide
• the written dt at the end does not sound like two separate consonants; at the end of the word it is pronounced just like t

So although it is spelled rijdt, the ending sounds like a simple t.

It can be either. The Dutch present tense is used for both.

Depending on context, De bus rijdt zeventig kilometer could mean:

• a general fact about the route or trip
• something happening right now

Dutch often leaves that distinction to context, just as English sometimes does.

Zeventig is the Dutch word for seventy.

It is a single word, just like many Dutch numbers:

• twintig = twenty
• dertig = thirty
• vijftig = fifty
• zeventig = seventy

So zeventig kilometer simply means seventy kilometers as a measurement phrase.