Jeg lægger den anden bog på bordet.

I

Breakdown of Jeg lægger den anden bog på bordet.

• bogen: the book
• på: on
• bordet: the table

Questions & Answers about Jeg lægger den anden bog på bordet.

Why is it lægger and not ligger?

Because Danish distinguishes between:

• at lægge = to lay / put / place something
• at ligge = to lie / be lying

In this sentence, the subject jeg is actively placing the book somewhere, so Danish uses lægger.

Compare:

• Jeg lægger bogen på bordet. = I put the book on the table.
• Bogen ligger på bordet. = The book is lying on the table.

So lægger is the correct present-tense form of at lægge here.

Why is it den anden bog instead of anden bogen or just bogen?

In Danish, when a noun is definite and has an adjective before it, you usually use:

• den/det/de + adjective + noun

So:

• den anden bog = the other book / the second book

If there were no adjective, you would normally use the definite ending directly on the noun:

• bogen = the book

So:

• bogen = the book
• den anden bog = the other/second book

You do not normally say anden bogen in standard Danish.

What does anden mean here: or ?