schiefliegen

German

Etymology

schief +‎ liegen

Pronunciation

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

Verb

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

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

Further reading