AI: Why English Has "I lie down, I lay the cup down" verb pairs. (German too!)

In English we have the verbs sit and set. German has sitzen and setzen. (See also lay and lie, versus legen liegen.). What’s the history here? It must pre date the separation of German and English.

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The sit/set and lay/lie distinction in English, paralleled by sitzen/setzen and liegen/legen in German, is indeed an old feature inherited from Proto-Germanic, the common ancestor of English, German, and other Germanic languages. Proto-Germanic verbs often distinguished between intransitive forms, indicating a state or position, and transitive forms, implying an action that causes a state. This distinction goes back even further to Proto-Indo-European (PIE), the ancient language from which both English and German ultimately derive.

In PIE, verbs often formed pairs to indicate whether the action was done by the subject or happened to the subject (known as a stative form versus a causative form). For instance:

• Sit (sitzen, sitzen): Both English and German have an intransitive verb meaning "to be seated." In PIE, this root likely represented a stative or intransitive action.
• Set (setzen, setzen): The transitive counterpart implies actively placing someone or something in a seated position, which could have been derived in PIE by adding a causative suffix or forming a separate causative verb.

A similar distinction exists with lie (liegen) (intransitive) versus lay (legen) (transitive), where the former describes a state of being horizontal, while the latter describes an action that places something in that state.

This causative-stative distinction became grammatically formalized in Proto-Germanic and was preserved across its daughter languages, including Old English and Old High German. Over time, this distinction became less obvious in modern English due to phonetic changes and the loss of certain conjugational forms. However, the remnants are still there, especially in irregular verbs like lay/lie, sit/set, and similar pairs that we sometimes find confusing today.

In German, the distinction has remained clearer, likely because the German language has maintained a more conservative structure for these verbs and because its grammar preserves more distinctions between cases and verb forms that convey the differences between actions and states. So, while English has merged or blurred some of these distinctions over time, German retains a sharper separation that makes the causative and stative meanings more transparent.

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Besides sit set and lay lie, what are “similar pairs?”

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In English, several verb pairs follow the same pattern of a stative form (indicating a state or position) and a causative form (indicating an action to cause that state). Here are some notable examples:

1. Rise / Raise

   • Rise (intransitive): to go upward by itself.
     • Example: "The sun rises in the east."
   • Raise (transitive): to lift or move something upward.
     • Example: "She raised her hand."

2. Fall / Fell

   • Fall (intransitive): to move downward by itself.
     • Example: "The leaves fall in autumn."
   • Fell (transitive): to cause something to fall, usually to knock down.
     • Example: "They felled the tree."

3. Lie / Lay

   • Lie (intransitive): to be in a horizontal or resting position.
     • Example: "I lie down to rest."
   • Lay (transitive): to place something down.
     • Example: "He lays the book on the table."

4. Sit / Set

   • Sit (intransitive): to be seated.
     • Example: "I sit on the chair."
   • Set (transitive): to place something in a seated or fixed position.
     • Example: "She set the vase on the shelf."

5. Drip / Drop

   • Drip (intransitive): to fall in small amounts by itself.
     • Example: "Water drips from the faucet."
   • Drop (transitive): to let something fall.
     • Example: "He dropped the glass."

6. Hang (intransitive) / Hang (transitive)
   English has both an intransitive and transitive version of hang, though the forms are identical.

   • Hang (intransitive): to be suspended.
     • Example: "The picture hangs on the wall."
   • Hang (transitive): to suspend something.
     • Example: "He hangs the picture on the wall."

7. Dwell / Abide

   • Dwell (intransitive): to live in a place.
     • Example: "They dwell in the countryside."
   • Abide (transitive): to tolerate or remain in a state.
     • Example: "He abides by the rules."

These pairs often reflect an older Indo-European grammar pattern where different forms or stems signified actions that either initiated a state or merely described it. English retains several of these pairs, though they are less common than they once were, and in some cases (like hang) the forms are now identical, which can lead to confusion.

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And in German?

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In German, there are also several verb pairs that distinguish between an intransitive (stative) form and a transitive (causative) form. Here are some common examples:

1. Sitzen / Setzen

   • Sitzen (intransitive): to sit or be seated.
     • Example: "Ich sitze auf dem Stuhl." ("I am sitting on the chair.")
   • Setzen (transitive): to set or seat someone/something.
     • Example: "Ich setze das Kind auf den Stuhl." ("I set the child on the chair.")

2. Liegen / Legen

   • Liegen (intransitive): to lie or be in a lying position.
     • Example: "Das Buch liegt auf dem Tisch." ("The book is lying on the table.")
   • Legen (transitive): to lay or place something down.
     • Example: "Ich lege das Buch auf den Tisch." ("I lay the book on the table.")

3. Stehen / Stellen

   • Stehen (intransitive): to stand or be upright.
     • Example: "Die Vase steht auf dem Tisch." ("The vase is standing on the table.")
   • Stellen (transitive): to set or place something in an upright position.
     • Example: "Ich stelle die Vase auf den Tisch." ("I set the vase on the table.")

4. Hängen / Hängen

   • Hängen (intransitive): to hang or be suspended.
     • Example: "Das Bild hängt an der Wand." ("The picture is hanging on the wall.")
   • Hängen (transitive): to hang or suspend something.
     • Example: "Ich hänge das Bild an die Wand." ("I hang the picture on the wall.")

   (Note: In this pair, the verb form is the same, but the transitive use sometimes employs a regular conjugation while the intransitive is irregular)

5. Steigen / Steigern

   • Steigen (intransitive): to rise or increase.
     • Example: "Die Temperatur steigt." ("The temperature is rising.")
   • Steigern (transitive): to raise or increase something.
     • Example: "Der Trainer steigert die Leistung des Teams." ("The coach increases the team's performance.")

6. Sinken / Senken

   • Sinken (intransitive): to sink or decrease.
     • Example: "Das Schiff sinkt." ("The ship is sinking.")
   • Senken (transitive): to lower or reduce something.
     • Example: "Er senkt die Preise." ("He lowers the prices.")

7. Ertrinken / Ertränken

   • Ertrinken (intransitive): to drown (by accident, without an external cause).
     • Example: "Das Kind ertrinkt im See." ("The child is drowning in the lake.")
   • Ertränken (transitive): to drown (someone or something intentionally).
     • Example: "Er ertränkt die Katze." ("He drowns the cat.")

8. Schmelzen / Schmelzen

   • Schmelzen (intransitive): to melt (by itself).
     • Example: "Der Schnee schmilzt." ("The snow is melting.")
   • Schmelzen (transitive): to melt something (to cause it to melt).
     • Example: "Ich schmelze die Butter." ("I melt the butter.")

These German pairs follow the same causative-stative structure as the English pairs, where one verb indicates a change that happens on its own (stative), and the other involves an action that brings about that change (causative). German has largely retained these distinctions more clearly than English, which often merges forms or blurs distinctions in meaning.