Questions & Answers about Jeg lægger tingen på bordet ved døren.
Why is it lægger and not ligger?
Because Danish, like some other Germanic languages, distinguishes between:
- lægge = to lay / put / place something
- ligge = to lie / be lying / be located
In your sentence, the subject is actively moving something onto the table, so Danish uses lægger:
- Jeg lægger tingen på bordet. = I put the thing on the table.
If the thing is already there, you would use ligger:
- Tingen ligger på bordet. = The thing is lying/is on the table.
This is one of the most important verb pairs to learn in Danish.
What form is lægger?
Lægger is the present tense of lægge.
A few useful forms are:
- at lægge = to put
- lægger = put / am putting / is putting
- lagde = put (past)
- har lagt = have put
So Jeg lægger tingen på bordet literally means I put / I am putting the thing on the table.
Why does Danish not use a separate word for the in tingen, bordet, and døren?