German

Noun

Liegen

1. plural of Liege

Dutch

Verb

liegen

1. (intransitive) to lie (to tell lies)

Inflection

Related terms

• leugen
• leugenaar

German

Etymology

From Old High German liggen, from Proto-Germanic *ligjaną, from Proto-Indo-European *legʰ-. Compare Low German liggen, Dutch liggen, English lie, Danish ligge, Gothic 𐌻𐌹𐌲𐌰𐌽 ‎(ligan).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈliːɡən/, [ˈliːɡən], [ˈliːɡŋ̩]
• Hyphenation: lie‧gen

Verb

liegen ‎(class 5 strong, third-person singular simple present liegt, past tense lag, past participle gelegen, past subjunctive läge, auxiliary haben or sein)

1. (intransitive) to lie (to be in a horizontal position)
2. (intransitive) to be, to lie somewhere (of flat objects; otherwise use stehen)
3. (intransitive) to be located, to lie somewhere (of countries, towns, houses, etc.)
4. (intransitive) to be, to stand (of indices, measurements)
   • 2012 June 19, Die Welt , page 10:

     Der deutsche Energieverbrauch lag in den ersten drei Monaten des Jahres rund zwei Prozent unter dem Niveau des Vorjahreszeitraumes.

     In the first three months of the year, the German energy consumption was about two percent below the level of the same period last year.

Usage notes

The most frequent auxiliary with liegen is haben: Ich habe gelegen. In northern and central Germany, only this form is used. In southern Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, sein is common in the vernacular and also, alternatively, in standard usage: Ich bin gelegen.

Conjugation

Derived terms

Middle Dutch

Etymology

From Old Dutch liogan, from Proto-Germanic *leuganą, from Proto-Indo-European *lewgʰ-.

Verb

liegen

1. (intransitive) to lie (to tell lies)

Inflection

This verb needs an inflection-table template.

Descendants

• Dutch: liegen