lügen
German
Etymology
From Middle High German liegen, from Old High German liogan, from Proto-West Germanic *leugan, from Proto-Germanic *leuganą, from Proto-Indo-European *lewgʰ-. Cognate with Bavarian liagn, Dutch liegen, Low German legen, lögen, English lie, Danish lyve, Swedish ljuga.
The expected form is Early Modern German liegen; that with -ü- has been standardized to avoid homophony with unrelated liegen (“to lie, be in a horizontal position”). The vowel was transferred from the noun Lüge, where it is original, facilitated by a phonetic merger of these vowels in some dialects. A reinforcing influence may have been the inherited 2nd and 3rd person-singular forms (from Middle High German liuges, liuget), which had /yː/ in non-diphthongising dialects (such as Alemannic German).
Pronunciation
Verb
lügen (class 2 strong, third-person singular present lügt, past tense log, past participle gelogen, past subjunctive löge, auxiliary haben)
- (intransitive) to tell a lie; to lie (to intentionally give false information)
- (intransitive, less often) to give false information (unintentionally)
- Wie alt sind Sie? — Ehm... lassen Sie mich nicht lügen... Zweiunddreißig.
- How old are you? — Er... don’t let me tell you something wrong... Thirty-two.
Conjugation
| infinitive | lügen | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| present participle | lügend | ||||
| past participle | gelogen | ||||
| auxiliary | haben | ||||
| indicative | subjunctive | ||||
| singular | plural | singular | plural | ||
| present | ich lüge | wir lügen | i | ich lüge | wir lügen |
| du lügst | ihr lügt | du lügest | ihr lüget | ||
| er lügt | sie lügen | er lüge | sie lügen | ||
| preterite | ich log | wir logen | ii | ich löge1 | wir lögen1 |
| du logst | ihr logt | du lögest1 du lögst1 |
ihr löget1 ihr lögt1 | ||
| er log | sie logen | er löge1 | sie lögen1 | ||
| imperative | lüg (du) lüge (du) |
lügt (ihr) | |||
1Rare except in very formal contexts; alternative in würde normally preferred.
