liegen
German, verb
liegen is spelled L-I-E-G-E-N (6 letters) and appears 158 times per million words in written German, the 547th most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Liegen is a German verb meaning “to lie (to be in a horizontal position)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). With a capital, Liegen is a different word: “plural of Liege”. The German Wiktionary defines it as “eine mehr oder weniger horizontal ausgerichtete Lage einnehmen”.
What does liegen mean in English?
verb
- 1
to lie (to be in a horizontal position)
- 2
Switzerlandto lie down
- 3
to be, to lie somewhere (of flat objects, also of inpatients in a hospital; otherwise use sitzen or stehen)
- 4
to be located, to lie somewhere (of countries, towns, houses, etc.)
- 5
to be, to stand (of indices, measurements)
- 6
because of, due to, down to (within the responsibility or influence of; literally, to lie on someone or something)
Woran liegt es, dass er immer wieder scheitert?
noun
- 1
plural of Liege
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
verb: 1. eine mehr oder weniger horizontal ausgerichtete Lage einnehmen 2. eine bestimmte Lage zu einem anderen Objekt haben 3. die relationale Position zweier Objekte bezeichnend 4. die Position innerhalb einer Rangliste, Skala bezeichnend
The definition in the German Wiktionary, in German.
Source: German Wiktionary, dump of September 1, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org.
Forms of liegen
- liegt present singular third-person
- lag past
- gelegen participle past
- läge past subjunctive
- haben auxiliary
- sein auxiliary
- 5 strong
- haben or sein auxiliary
- liegend participle present
- liege first-person indicative present
- liegst indicative present second-person
- liegest second-person singular subjunctive
- lieget plural second-person subjunctive
- lagen first-person indicative plural
- lägen first-person plural subjunctive
- lagst indicative preterite second-person
- lagt indicative plural preterite
- lägest second-person singular subjunctive
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
English words that translate to liegen
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is liegen in German?
liegen appears 158 times per million words in written German.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).