"Er liggen gele boeken."

Translation: There are yellow books.

[bassdewd]

Confusing, perhaps it should be changed to there are yellow books. Liggen indicates they are lying there, which was counted as incorrect.

[Navelfluff]

Same here. I think in this case lie should be correct

[JudithdeBats]

Agree ..you do not say "liggen"when you mean "zijn" ..Er zijn gele boeken ..of Er liggen gele boeken!

[leifparker]

This has me a little confused.

Doesn't "liggen" (as a 'to be' substitute) imply that the books are physically present? And if they are physically present, wouldn't you use "daar" instead of "er"?

As in, "daar liggen gele boeken"
versus
"er zijn gele boeken"

[WarmFoothills]

You can change daar to er and the other way around in both sentences.

[Susande]

Daar zijn gele boeken sounds a bit odd because it is a physical location (there) combined with the books exist meaning of zijn.

• Er zijn gele boeken = There are yellow books (they exist)
• Daar liggen gele boeken = There are yellow books (they lay over there)
• Er liggen gele boeken = There are yellow books (they lay somewhere in the vicinity)

[leifparker]

Very logical! Thank you kindly.

[UnitarioRe]

Exactly this I was wondering to myself, I was totally confused with the context of the sentence, if they EXIST, where they are, above something or are lying everywhere?

Thanks!!

[SrMarien]

Er does not only state that the books exist. For example:

Er liggen gele boeken in de kamer = there are yellow books in the room.

[Caracola0]

The er woord is difficult. I've read in a grammar book that we should use it in 5 different situations.
1. Er + numeral: Heb je boeken? ja, heb ik er vijf.
2. er/daar= place. Woon je in Amsterdam? ja, Ik woon er / ja, daar woon ik
3. er introduces an undefined subject: Er liggen gele boeken.
4. er/ daar + preposition ( this case is when a verb should use with a preposition, luisteren naar, gaan naar, houden van ...) houd jij van koffie? ja, ik houd ervan/ ja, daar houd ik van.
5 er=passive subject: Er wordt vlees koken in het restaurant.

Only in the second point er is a place. this sentence is the 3 point.

[HansOoster]

"Yellow books lie there." Could also serve.