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Deutsch 101-326 an der Universitt Michigan stehen/stellen, liegen/legen, hngen/hngen, sitzen/setzen Home
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Summary

Please refer to the main Preposition page for practice exercises and diagnostic exercises on this topic Usage Notes

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Examples

stehen/stellen vs. liegen/legen vs. sitzen/setzen tun, stecken and sein

Summary
Resources for German Students and Teachers
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Stehen, liegen, hngen (describing where something is hanging) and sitzen are strong (irregular) verbs that describe where something is located (standing, lying, hanging, sitting) (==>Wo?), and therefore take the dative with two-way prepositions. Stellen, legen, hngen (describing where you hang something) and setzen are weak (regular) verbs that are used when a person or thing is moved (==>Wohin?) into a new location and therefore take the accusative with two-way prepositions. In practice, this means forming sentences with two accusatives, which is unusual: the object being moved is the direct object of the verb and therefore in the accusative, and the place to which the object is being moved will be in the accusative also, since it will be the object of a two-way preposition and motion is involved. Stehen/stellen, liegen/legen, hngen/hngen and sitzen/setzen are almost always used in conjunction with two-way prepositions. As usual with two-way prepositions, you can remember location ==> dative; motion ==> accusative. There are more such pairs (e.g. sinken/senken; verschwinden [=to disappear]/verschwenden [=to waste] etc.), but they are less common (and not closely associated with two-way prepositions), so here we will focus on these four. See the usage notes below for information on the distinction between stehen/stellen and liegen/legen, information on when to use sitzen/setzen, and information on using tun or stecken and sein when none of the above verbs is appropriate for describing where something is being put or where something is located.

Examples
stehen, stand, gestanden stellen, stellte, gestellt Die Bste von Mozart steht auf dem Bett (dative: location). Ich stelle die Bste (accusative: direct object) auf das Klavier (accusative: motion). Eine Mumie stand mitten in ihrem Wohnzimmer (dative: location). Sie stellte die Mumie (accusative: direct object) in die Ecke to stand, to be situated to put (in a standing position) The bust of Mozart is standing on the bed. I put (stand) the bust on the piano.

A mummy stood in the middle of her living room. She put (stood) the mummy in the corner.

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(accusative: motion).

liegen, lag, gelegen legen, legte, gelegt Das Besteck liegt in der Badewanne (dative: location). Du legst das Besteck (accusative: direct object) auf den Tisch (accusative: motion). Eine Schlange hat auf dem Boden (dative: location) gelegen. Wir haben die Schlange (accusative: direct object) in das Bett (accusative: motion) unseres RAs gelegt.

to lie, be situated to put (in a lying position) The silverware is lying in the bathtub. You put (laid) the silverware on the table. A snake was lying on the floor. We put (laid) the snake in our RA's bed.

hngen, hing, gehangen hngen, hngte, gehngt Ein Bild von den Backstreet Boys hngt im Schlafzimmer (dative: location). Du hngst das Bild (accusative: direct object) ber die Toilette (accusative: motion). Der Kronleuchter hat im Keller (dative: location) gehangen. Wir haben den Kronleuchter (accusative: direct object) ins Wohnzimmer (accusative: motion) gehngt.

to be hanging to hang (something/someone) A picture of the Backstreet Boys is hanging in the bedroom. You hang the picture above the toilet. The chandelier was hanging in the basement. We hung the chandelier in the living room.

sitzen, sa, gesessen (sich) setzen, setzte, gesetzt Wir saen auf dem Esstisch (dative: location).

to be sitting to sit (down) We were sitting on the dining room table.

Wir setzten uns (accusative: direct We sat down on the chairs. object) auf die Sthle (accusative: motion). Ich habe auf Lassie (dative: location) gesessen. Ich habe mich (accusative: direct object) auf Flipper (accusative: motion) gesetzt. I was sitting on Lassie [bad of me!]. I sat down on Flipper [worse...].

Usage Notes

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stehen/stellen vs. liegen/legen vs. sitzen/setzen

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stehen/stellen is usually used for things that can be regarded as standing on a firm base: plates, statues, people and animals who are standing, drinking glasses, bottles, buckets, vases, etc.

liegen/legen is usually used for anything else that is not sitting or hanging, especially 'floppy' things: silverware, newspapers, snakes, people and animals who are lying down, eyeglasses, vases (or bottles or drinking glasses etc.) that have fallen over, etc.

sitzen/setzen, unlike the English "to set," can only be used with things that have knees and can thus actually sit: people, dolls and puppets, and certain animals, but not, for example, worms, fish, or inanimate objects other than dolls and puppets.

If a book is standing or being stood vertically (e.g. in a bookshelf), you would use stehen/stellen; if it is lying or being laid flat (e.g. on a coffee table), you would use liegen/legen. Similarly, for bottles standing or being stood on their base (or even on their mouths), you would use stehen/stellen; if they are lying around or being laid on their sides (e.g. on the floor), you would use liegen/legen. More examples: Die Bcher liegen auf dem Tisch (dative: location). The books are lying on the table.

Wir stellen die Bcher (accusative: We put the books on the shelf. direct object) ins Regal (accusative: motion). Mein Bruce Springsteen Poster lag auf dem Boden (dative: location). My Bruce Springsteen poster was lying on the floor.

Ich hing es (accusative: direct I hung it above my bed. object) ber mein Bett (accusative: motion). Das Baby hat auf dem Fernseher (dative: location) gesessen. Du hast es (accusative: direct object) ins Bett (accusative: motion) gelegt. Tun, stecken and sein
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The baby was sitting on the TV. You put it to bed (laid it in the bed).

Often, when you are describing where you are putting something, especially if you are putting something inside something else, none of the above verbs will be appropriate. For example, if you are putting a handkerchief in your purse, neither stellen nor legen describes what you are doing, and hngen and setzen are obviously inapplicable. In these cases, you should use the verbs tun or stecken. Tun has the widest range of applications, whereas stecken can only be used in situations where you could use "stick" in English, as in "I stuck it in my pocket" or "Stick that under the bed." Occasionally, stecken must be used instead of tun (see the last two examples below). The following are some examples of situations

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where you need to use tun or stecken in this way, because stellen, legen, hngen and setzen are all inapplicable: Ich tue/stecke mein Taschentuch in meine Tasche. I put my handkerchief in my pocket.

Ich tue/stecke die Flaschen ins I put the bottles into the recycling Recycling. [Could possibly use bin. legen or stellen here depending on how you place the bottles in the bin.] Hast du die Bcher in deinen Rucksack getan/gesteckt? Sie tat/steckte den Schlssel ins Schloss. Did you put the books in your backpack? She put the key in the lock.

Ich musste schnell aufrumen, also I had to clean up quickly, so I just hab ich einfach alles unters Bett put everything under the bed. getan/gesteckt. Meine Eltern haben mich in ein Internat getan/gesteckt. [A more positive formulation: "...haben mich auf ein Internat geschickt."] "Es funktioniert nicht!" -- "Haben Sie den Stecker in die Steckdose getan/gesteckt?
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My parents stuck me in a boarding school. [vs the more positive formulation "...sent me to a boarding school."] Did you put the plug in the outlet?

Tun can be used more generally as an informal substitute for stellen and legen and occasionally setzen, whereas stecken can only be used in situations where you could use "stick" in English, as in "I stuck it in my pocket" or "Stick that under the bed." Sie knnen Ihre Hausaufgaben in mein Fach tun/stecken/legen. You can put your homework in my box. [With stecken, it would mean "You can stick your homework in my box."] Please put the silverware on the table. I put a note on your desk.

Bitte tu/steck/leg das Besteck auf den Tisch. Ich habe einen Zettel auf Ihren Schreibtisch getan/gesteckt/gelegt. Wo hast du die Schlssel hingetan/ hingesteckt/hingelegt? Wir haben das Kind ins Bett getan/gesteckt/ gelegt. Ich habe das Buch unters Bett getan/gesteckt/ gelegt.

Where did you put the keys? [With stecken, it would mean "Where did you stick the keys?"] We put the child to bed. [With stecken, it would mean "We stuck the child in bed."] I put the book under my bed. [With stecken, it would mean "I stuck the book under my bed."]

Finally, if you are trying to describe where something is located and stehen, liegen, hngen and sitzen are all inapplicable, you can of course always just use sein, as in the examples below. In some cases, you can also use stecken for this purpose, and again this usually give the sentence an informal tone. You can also generally substitute sein for stehen, liegen and setzen (but not usually for

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hngen) if you don't mind losing a little specificity (though your instructor may not always let you do this on tests, if s/he wants to test your ability to use stehen, liegen and setzen!). Das Taschentuch ist/steckt in meiner Tasche. The handkerchief is in my pocket.

Die Flaschen sind im Recycling. The bottles are in the recycling bin. [Could possibly use liegen or stehen here depending on how the bottles are positioned in the bin.] Waren die Bcher in deinem Rucksack? Der Schlssel war/steckte im Schloss. Das Kind ist/liegt im Bett. Das Bild ist/hngt an der Wand. Der Eimer war/stand in der Garage. Der Schlssel steckt. Were the books in your backpack? The key was in the lock. The child is/is lying in bed. The picture is hanging on the wall. The bucket was/was standing in the garage. [Idiomatic expression for:] The key is in the lock.

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