Breakdown of Der Schatz des Piraten soll auf dem Meeresgrund gelegen haben.
haben
to have
auf
on / to (down/up to a level)
liegen
to lie
sollen
should / ought to
der
who, which, that (relative pronoun; die, das)
der Schatz
the treasure; darling
der Pirat
the pirate
der Meeresgrund
the ocean floor
Questions & Answers about Der Schatz des Piraten soll auf dem Meeresgrund gelegen haben.
Why is soll in the present tense if the rumor is about a past event?
When using sollen for hearsay, the tense of sollen tells you when the rumor exists. Here, soll is in the present tense because people are currently saying it. To show that the rumored event happened in the past, you put the main verb in the perfect infinitive at the end of the sentence: gelegen haben (to have lain).
Why does Pirat have an -en ending here to make des Piraten? Doesn't the genitive usually add an -s?
Pirat belongs to a special group of masculine nouns called weak nouns (or n-declension nouns). These nouns add an -n or -en in every case except the nominative singular. So instead of adding an -s for the genitive, it becomes des Piraten.
I often mix up liegen and legen. How do we know to use gelegen here?
gelegen is the past participle of liegen, which means 'to lie' or 'to be located' (a static position). If you used gelegt (from legen, 'to lay' or 'to put'), it would mean the treasure was actively placing something else on the ocean floor. Since the treasure is just resting there without a direct object, liegen is the correct verb.
Why does auf take the dative case (dem Meeresgrund) in this sentence?
auf is a two-way preposition. You use the dative case when describing a static location, which answers the question 'where?'. Since the treasure is already lying on the ocean floor and not moving toward a new destination, we use the dative dem.
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