Learn Hardcore Dutch: Het vliegveld ligt ver voorbij de bergtop, dus we vertrekken vroeg. - The airport lies far beyond the mountain peak, so we leave early.

vliegveld is a neuter noun in Dutch. All nouns are either common gender (de-words) or neuter (het-words). Many compound nouns ending in -veld (“field”) are neuter, so you say het vliegveld instead of de vliegveld.

What does ligt come from and what does it mean?

ligt is the present-tense (3rd person singular) form of liggen, which literally means “to lie (down)” but is used for location to mean “to be situated.” So het vliegveld ligt… = “the airport is located…”

Why do we say liggen for location instead of staan?

In Dutch:

liggen describes something that lies flat or is spread out (horizontal position) or where it is situated on a map.
staan describes something standing upright (vertical position).
An airport, thought of as a flat area, “lies” on the terrain, so you use liggen.

What does ver voorbij mean together, and can I drop ver?

voorbij = “past,” “beyond”
ver = “far” (an adverb intensifier)
Together ver voorbij means “far beyond.” You can drop ver and say het vliegveld ligt voorbij de bergtop, but then it just means “beyond the summit,” without emphasizing the distance.

Why is there a comma before dus, and how does dus affect word order?

Here dus is a coordinating conjunction linking two main clauses:

Het vliegveld ligt ver voorbij de bergtop,
dus we vertrekken vroeg.
You place a comma before dus when it connects clauses. Because it’s a conjunction, the second clause keeps normal S-V-O order. If you start a new sentence with dus as an adverb, you’d write:
“Dus vertrekken we vroeg.” (verb second, inversion after the adverb).

Why is we vertrekken vroeg S-V-O, and where do time adverbs like vroeg go?

In Dutch main clauses (without fronting), the order is Subject-Verb-Object/Adverbial. Time adverbs such as vroeg (“early”) usually come right after the verb or at the very beginning of a clause. Here it follows the verb: we (S) vertrekken (V) vroeg (time-adv).

What is the difference between vertrekken and gaan?

vertrekken = “to depart,” “to leave” a place (focus on the act of departure)
gaan = “to go” in a general sense (movement toward somewhere)
If you say we vertrekken, you emphasize leaving from here; we gaan alone just means “we go,” usually with a destination added (e.g. we gaan naar huis).

Why is the verb form vertrekken (ending in -en) and not vertrekt or vertrek?

Present-tense endings for vertrekken:

Ik vertrek
Jij/u vertrekt
Hij/zij/het vertrekt
Wij/jullie/zij vertrekken
So for we (wij) you use the -en ending, which coincides with the infinitive form.

What is a bergtop and why is it one word?

Dutch compounds are written as single words. berg (“mountain”) + top (“top”) = bergtop (“mountaintop” or “summit”).

Could I invert word order and say dus vertrekken we vroeg?

Yes—if you treat dus as an adverb at the start of a new sentence, it triggers inversion:
“Dus vertrekken we vroeg.”
In that case there’s no comma and the verb comes before the subject. In your original sentence dus is a conjunction linking clauses, so you keep S-V-O in the second clause.