How do you say “to put” in German?

In the sense of placing or positioning an object somewhere, the word “to put” is tricky in German. Although platzieren and positionieren can be used, these words are somewhat formal and not too common in everyday usage. The word hintun (essentially “to do something somewhere”), on the other hand, is quite informal.

Rather, the most common way to indicate that something is placed somewhere depends on the position that the object has once it’s been placed:

• If the thing ends up lying somewhere, the word is legen (“to lay”, not to be confused with liegen, which means “to lie”)

• If the object comes to rest in a standing position the word is stellen (not to be confused with stehen, which is “to stand”)

• If the object is hanging, the word is hängen

• If it’s plugged or stuck somewhere the word is stecken

• If it’s sitting the word is setzen (not to be confused with sitzen, which is “to sit”).

For grammar buffs: a spatial two-way preposition takes the accusative for a destination (Wohin?) and the dative for a location (Wo?). Compare Ich lege den Stift auf den Tisch with Der Stift liegt auf dem Tisch. Movement within a location can still take the dative: Ich gehe im Park spazieren.