Hello and welcome to letthemtalk the channel that goes deeper into everything about the
English language and today we've got another 2 minute grammar for you when you take 2 minutes
from your oh so busy schedule and you learn some advanced English. ok
so today's 2 minute grammar is the difference between LAY and LIE and LIE
Not difficult, not difficult at all but commonly confused even by native speakers
We've got 2 minutes let's get started. Let's do this one at a time.
LAY means to place carefully on a surface. To place carefully on a surface
Let's look at some examples.
“Let me lay the knife on the book.”
“please lay the fruit in the bowl.” The past tense is LAID...
“she laid her hand on my shoulder.”
“She was feeling sick so we laid her down on the bed.”
The past participle of LAY is LAID
“the hen has laid an egg.”
As you can see I have laid all the cards in front of you.
To LAY is a transitive verb which means you can follow LAY with something or someone.
To lay the KNIFE “She was feeling sick so we laid HER down.”
The next word is to LIE
This is a completely different word to LAY there is no connection between the two verbs.
To LIE means move to a horizontal position For I example in the present tense. “When
I get home I usually lie down for a few minutes and take a nap.”
“I think I'm going to lie on my bed and read my book”
the past of LIE is LAY.....yes that's it that's why people get confused. It's written the same and it's
pronounced the same but it's a different word. Like Donald Trump and Donald Duck they look
the same but one of them goes quack quack quack and
and the other one is Donald Duck.
For example. “We lay on the grass and looked at the stars.”
“The cat lay down under the table.” TO LIE is an intransitive verb so you can lie
on, in, under but you can't lay something or someone.
The past participle is LAIN.....which is rarely used because normally you LIE, LAY
or have been LYING. (LYING is the present participle).
But I'll give you one example. “When I looked at the bed I realized someone
had lain there earlier”...again this is quite rare and literary most people would
say “had been lying there.” I'm sure you know there is a third verb
TO LIE which is to not tell the truth. Which is a regular verb. LIE, LIED, LIED
“You said you would make me breakfast but you didn't you lied to me.”
There you are 3 complete different words they just sound a bit the same but there is no
reason to get confused. That was about 2 minutes wasn't it more or
less. Well anyway thank you for watching. Stay mellow and see you next time.