[details=“English Translation”]Which platform is the train at?
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Why is this not “An welchem Bahnsteig liegt der Zug?” if the train is a long object parallel to the ground? Even as a C1 speaker, this confuses me greatly. I would appreciate an explanation from a native speaker to clear this point up for future players of this sentence.
I’m far from a German speaker, but in my native Swedish we would definitely say “tåget står” (der Zug steht). If someone said “tåget ligger” (der Zug liegt), I would think the train had derailed and the cars were lying on their sides. I think this may be a common trait across different Germanic languages. Maybe it’s because we picture the train’s wheels as its feet.
Yes, “liegen” would sound wrong. It indeed invokes the picture of a derailed train, or one that’s missing wheels and is lying on its belly. The wheels are what a train stands on.
But there is also the second meaning of “stehen” that applies here as well. It’s about being stopped, in the same way a clock has stopped (“Die Uhr steht”).