German

edit

Etymology

edit

schief +‎ liegen

Pronunciation

edit
  • IPA(key): [ˈʃiːfˌliːɡn̩]
  • Hyphenation: schief‧lie‧gen
  • Audio:(file)

Verb

edit

schiefliegen (class 5 strong, third-person singular present liegt schief, past tense lag schief, past participle schiefgelegen, past subjunctive läge schief, auxiliary haben or sein)

  1. (colloquial) to be wrong

Usage notes

edit

Only the auxiliary haben is used in northern and central Germany. In southern Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, sein is common in the vernacular and also, alternatively, in standard usage.

Conjugation

edit

Further reading

edit