Hi, students.
Welcome to the lesson.
Today, we're going to learn the grammar of the two most
difficult English verbs, which are lay and lie.
Even native speakers struggle with this topic
and use the incorrect verb a lot of the time.
So by watching this lesson, you will
learn from the mistakes of native speakers.
And you'll be able to remove those errors from your English.
In the second part of the lesson,
we'll look in closer detail at the grammar of each verb.
First though, let's have a look at some common mistake
sentences.
Yesterday, I laid in bed.
The mistake here is laid.
This is a past simple sentence.
It happened before.
The verb should be lay.
Yesterday, I lay in bed.
The second sentence.
The cat is laying on the mat.
The incorrect verb is laying.
It should be lying.
The cat is lying on the mat.
The next example.
Please lay still.
Don't move.
Is something that a doctor might say to a patient,
except they wouldn't because this
is grammatically incorrect.
The sentence should be, please lie still.
And the last example is I will lay on the grass.
This is a future simple sentence.
It should not be lay.
It should be lie.
I will lie on the grass.
Now, we're going to look at the verb, lay.
Lay is the easier verb, which doesn't
cause as many common mistakes, but we still
need to look at its uses.
Another very important thing about this verb
is that it always needs an object.
Let's look now at the different uses of lay.
We use lay when something is put somewhere.
For example, you lay knives and forks on the table,
and you lay the baby in its cot.
The second use of lay is to do with construction.
So builders lay bricks, carpet, tiles, et cetera.
And the third use of lay is to do with eggs.
Hens lay eggs.
We will now go through the different forms of the verb,
lay.
In the present tense, it's I lay, or he, she, it lays.
The continuous form is laying.
And notice here that the past form and the past participle
are the same.
Laid, laid.
Now, we look at some sentences in the different tenses.
I lay the table.
This would mean a duty.
Second sentence.
The builder is laying concrete.
This is a continuous sentence, present continuous.
Although it would be more natural to say,
the concrete is being laid by the builder.
The next example is the hen laid an egg.
This is a past simple sentence.
This happened before.
And the final example.
Mary has laid the table.
Full stop.
This is a present perfect sentence.
And this would mean her task has been completed.
It's been done.
Next, we're going to look at the verb, lie.
Now, for the most troublesome verb, lie,
which causes the most mistakes and confusion.
First of all, the uses.
We use it when we're talking about resting somewhere,
and in a very formal sense, to talk about when
something is located somewhere.
To help us be more confident in using this verb,
here are some nouns that we can associate it with.
You lie in bed.
You lie on a towel.
You lie in a hammock.
You lie on the sofa.
You lie on the grass.
You lie in the sun when you're sunbathing.
Or you may lie on the floor.
Now we're going to go through the different verb
forms of lie.
In the present simple tense, it's
I lie, or he, she, it lies.
The continuous form is lying.
And then we have the form that causes the most mistakes.
This is the past simple form, lay.
And finally, the past participle, lain,
also causes a few mistakes.
Next, we're going to go through some examples sentences that
contain the verb, lie.
This time, all of the example sentences
are grammatically correct.
However, you may need help understanding
exactly when we would use these tenses and sentences.
If so, definitely go and look at my lesson article that
goes along with this video because there,
I have time to explain each sentence fully.
You can get the link to the lesson
article in the video description and in the pinned comment.
On with the examples.
I lie in bed all day.
The key lies on the desk.
This is a formal way of saying the key is on the desk.
We are lying on the bed.
Tom lay in bed for hours.
This happened before, in the past.
And finally, I have lain awake for hours.
I'm staring at the ceiling.
I'm counting sheep, but I still can't sleep.
Bringing everything together, we have now
been through the grammatical uses of the two most difficult
verbs in English, lay and lie.
But honestly, it still might not be
enough to be fully confident using these two verbs, which
is why I've included extra examples
sentences in the lesson article on my website.
So go and check that out, link in description.
And other than that, I'll see you again soon
for a future video.
Bye.