Learn Hardcore Dutch: Tijdens de spits is het druk in de bus naar het metrostation. - During rush hour it is busy on the bus to the metro station.

De spits literally means “the peak (time)”, and in everyday language it nearly always refers to rush hour (in traffic or public transport).

Common related words:

de ochtendspits – the morning rush hour
de avondspits – the evening rush hour
het spitsuur – (literally) peak hour, also “rush hour”

In this sentence, Tijdens de spits is best translated as “During rush hour”. You normally keep de (it’s a de‑word): de spits.

Why does the sentence start with “Tijdens de spits” and then put “is” right after it? Shouldn’t the verb come after the subject?

Dutch has a verb‑second (V2) rule in main clauses: the finite verb (here: is) almost always comes in second position.

You can think of the sentence structure as:

First position: Tijdens de spits (a time phrase)
Second position: is (the verb)
Then the rest: het druk in de bus naar het metrostation

If you start with the “normal” subject, you get:

Het is druk tijdens de spits in de bus naar het metrostation.

Here het is first, so is is second.
But when you move Tijdens de spits to the front, is has to stay in the second position:

Tijdens de spits is het druk in de bus naar het metrostation.

So the verb comes before het because of the V2 rule, not because het isn’t the subject.

What is the function of het in “is het druk”? Is “het” referring to something specific?

In is het druk, het is a dummy subject, like English “it” in “It is busy” or “It is cold”.

It doesn’t refer to a concrete noun like “bus” or “station”.
It’s just there because Dutch, like English, normally needs a subject in a full sentence.

So:

Het is druk. → “It is busy / crowded.”
Het is koud. → “It is cold.”

The real “content” is carried by the adjective (druk, koud, etc.), while het is grammatically required but semantically empty.

What does druk mean here? Does it mean “busy” like a busy person, or “crowded”?

Druk can mean both busy and crowded, depending on context.

In this sentence:

Het is druk in de bus = The bus is crowded / there are many people in the bus.

Some common uses:

Het is druk in de stad. – The city is busy / crowded.
Ik heb het druk. – I am busy (I have a lot to do).
Een drukke straat. – A busy street (lots of traffic/people).

For a physical space (like a bus), druk usually implies many people, not much space → “crowded” or “busy”.

Why is it in de bus in Dutch but “on the bus” in English?

Dutch uses a different preposition here:

English: on the bus
Dutch: in de bus

For public transport, Dutch typically uses in (in):

in de bus – on the bus
in de trein – on the train
in de tram – on the tram
in het vliegtuig – on the plane

So whenever you would say “on the bus/train/plane” in English, you almost always say “in …” in Dutch.

Why do we use naar in “naar het metrostation”? Could you use another preposition?

Naar is the standard preposition for movement toward a destination and usually translates as “to”:

naar het metrostation – to the metro station
naar school – to school
naar huis – (to) home
naar Amsterdam – to Amsterdam

Other prepositions like tot or aan don’t work here. You need naar to express the direction towards the metro station.

Why is it de bus but het metrostation? How do I know when to use de or het?

In Dutch, nouns have two grammatical genders for articles:

de-words: use de
het-words: use het

Here:

de bus → bus is a de-word
het metrostation → station is a het-word, and the compound metrostation keeps that.

There are some patterns, but many words you simply have to memorize:

Most words referring to people with natural gender → de (de man, de vrouw, de dokter).
Many diminutives ending in -je → het (het huisje, het busje).
Words like het station, het gebouw, het probleem are het-words.

In compounds, the last part usually decides the article:

het station → het metrostation
de bus → de stadsbus (“city bus”)

Could you also say “in de spits” instead of “tijdens de spits”? What’s the difference between tijdens and in?

Both are possible here, with a small nuance:

Tijdens de spits is het druk… – During rush hour it is busy…
In de spits is het druk… – In rush hour it is busy…

Tijdens explicitly means “during” and sounds a bit more neutral/standard in written Dutch.
In de spits is more informal/colloquial but very common in speech.

In general:

Use tijdens + noun when you clearly mean “during [time/event]”:
- tijdens de les – during the class
- tijdens de vakantie – during the vacation

Sometimes in can replace tijdens in everyday speech when the time period is well understood (like de spits).

Why is it de bus and not een bus? Does that change the meaning?

Yes, de bus vs een bus makes a difference in focus:

Tijdens de spits is het druk in de bus naar het metrostation.
→ Suggests a specific, known bus/service, e.g. the one you usually take, or the bus line to the metro station in general (as a known route).
Tijdens de spits is het druk in een bus naar het metrostation.
→ Sounds like “in a bus to the metro station”, some bus, not clearly identified. This is grammatically fine but less natural if you’re talking about a regular route or a general fact.

In context, we often talk about known routes or typical situations, so de bus feels more natural.

Can I change the order of “in de bus naar het metrostation” to “naar het metrostation in de bus”?

You can rearrange parts a bit, but not all orders are equally natural.

Most natural:

Het is druk in de bus naar het metrostation.
(First “in the bus”, then specifying which bus: the one to the metro station.)

Possible but more marked:

Het is druk in de bus, naar het metrostation.
(With a pause/comma, as if you add “(the one) to the metro station” as an extra detail.)

Naar het metrostation in de bus is not how a native speaker would normally phrase it; it sounds like you’re mixing two different things (direction and location) in an odd order.

So: keep “in de bus” first, then “naar het metrostation” as a description of which bus.