German Grammar – I was lying down all morning 🇩🇪

Ich ____ den ganzen Morgen

The correct translation of “I was lying down all morning” into German is “Ich lag den ganzen Morgen.” The verb “liegen” in German means “to lie” (as in to recline or rest in a horizontal position), and “lag” is its simple past tense (Imperfekt or Präteritum).

Here’s why “lag” is the correct answer:

1. The verb “liegen” uses the following conjugation pattern in the simple past tense:
– ich lag (I was lying)
– du lagst (you were lying – singular informal)
– er/sie/es lag (he/she/it was lying)
– wir lagen (we were lying)
– ihr lagt (you were lying – plural informal)
– sie lagen (they were lying)
– Sie lagen (you were lying – formal)

2. Since the subject in the English sentence is “I,” we need the first-person singular past tense form of “liegen,” which is “lag.”

3. “Den ganzen Morgen” means “the whole morning” or “all morning.” In this context, the use of the simple past tense is appropriate to express an action that was ongoing during this past time frame.

German uses both the simple past tense and the present perfect tense (Perfekt) to talk about past events. In spoken language, Germans often use the present perfect tense, but for some verbs, especially those that indicate a state or are used in storytelling, the simple past tense is commonly used. “Liegen” is one of those verbs where the simple past tense is often preferred.

In summary, “Ich lag den ganzen Morgen” is the proper translation because “lag” is the first-person singular form of “liegen” in the simple past tense, which matches the past continuous aspect in English – “I was lying down.”

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