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- Topic: Polish >
- "Jabłko leży na stole."
29 Comments
I'm not sure that apples can "lie" on tables. Books, magazines, flat things, not to mention cats, dogs, people - yes; spherical objects - not so sure.
1498
Maybe the apple is flat like a laptop ;) if you translate the company's name into Polish - why not^^ Anyway, I know that's usually not done/ expressed that way and probably not what you meant...
However - I do think, that "is lying" also fits for round eatable apples. At least you use it in German
In English the apple would be sitting on the table not lying on it, and an apple computer would be called a mac, not an apple :)
In English it should be "the apple is laying on the table". People "lie" things "lay"
- 1447
Sorry, that is incorrect. The apple is lying on the table (no action/motion). You lay the book on the table (action/motion).
- 139
"The apple is laying" is definitely wrong as laying requires an object e.g "the hen is laying an egg" or "you are laying the table". Apples can't lay anything! (not even other apples....)
I wrote 'An apple is lying upon the table' and of course I was marked wrong...yet I would say 'upon' and 'na' is also 'upon'.
A small or flat object leży, when it is merely present on any surface (table, desk, shelf):
Jabłko/ Talerz leży/ jest/ znajduje się na stole - The apple/ The plate is on the table
Na stole leży/jest/znajduje się jabłko/talerz - There is an apple/a plate on the table
A big or tall item stoi, when it is simply present on any surface:
Lampa/Szklanka stoi/jest/znajduje się na stole - The lamp/The glass is on the table
Na stole stoi/jest/znajduje się lampa/szklanka - There is a lamp/a glass on the table
"The apple's on the table" is incorrect. Why? It means the exact same thing as "The apple is on the table" or "The apple is lying on the table".
If "The apple is on the table" is accepted (which I'd think it should be), then it is probably just an oversight if "The apple's on the table" is not accepted. I'd suggest using the "Report" function.
Were you doing a "type what you hear" exercise or a "translation" exercise?
If/when this happens again, could you take a screen shot for us?
Maybe it's not exactly logical (because most apples are more or less round-ish), but we say that an apple is lying, not that it's standing.
I'm not sure that either is completely correct. We rarely use a verb in this situation (we would usually say 'the apple is on the table') but if we were to use a verb the most common would be 'sitting' (as a diminutive form of situated). I hope that helps!
- 1447
Sorry, no. "laying" is the present participle of the verb "to lay" (motion). "lying" is the present participle of the verb "to lie" (no motion).
The confusion comes in because "lay" is also the past tense of the verb "to lie" :
lie (present), lay (past), lain (past participle)
lay (present), laid (past), laid (past participle)
Someone laid the apple on the table, now it's just lying there.
http://www.writersdigest.com/online-editor/lay-vs-lie
see also https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/usage/laid-or-lain
Agree....laid/lain is clearly past tense, but lay/laying/lie/lying are all present tense English so I think this should be accepted but could be wrong?
As Augustine2017 explains above, "laying" and "lying" are parts of different verbs. The first is transitive; the second is intransitive.
My thought would be, if the apple is "laying" on the table, "Hmmm. I wonder what it's laying; a pip perhaps"?
Surely, "An apple lays on the table" the should be correct? We can say it like that in English
