What is the difference between LAY and LIE?
Lay and Lie are both verbs.
However these verbs are frequently confused and misused,
even by native speakers of English.
Why?
Let's look at the different meanings of each verb.
LAY
Here is the conjugation of the verb to lay.
LAY means to put or place something down.
Lay is a transitive verb.
This means it has a direct object after it.
We lay something.
We laid our picnic blanket on the ground.
Here it refers to putting or placing the blanket on the ground.
He is laying bricks for the new barbecue in his backyard.
This means he is placing the bricks one on top of the other.
I fell asleep as soon as I laid my head on the pillow.
It happened as soon as I put my head on the pillow.
They are going to lay new carpet throughout the house.
This means they're going to put new carpet throughout the house.
Notice how we said what the thing or object is that we laid.
We laid our picnic blanket, he is laying bricks, I laid my head, lay new carpet, we all laid something.
You can see that we need an object after the verb to lay.
Lay also has a couple more meanings.
Did you know that birds lay eggs?
Yes, lay also means to produce an egg.
This verb is most commonly used with birds such as hens or chickens.
The hen laid an egg.
This means the hen produced an egg.
You can also lay a table,
which means to set a table or put plates, knives and forks etc. on a table.
He had to lay the table before he could serve dinner.
This is the same as saying
he had to set the table before he could serve dinner.
Now, let's look at the verb to lie.
LIE
Here is the conjugation of the verb to lie.
Lie means to be on a surface in a horizontal position, usually resting.
Lie is an intransitive verb.
This means it never has a direct object or a thing after it.
You cannot lie a thing, you LAY a thing.
He likes to lie in his hammock when it is a nice day.
He lay on his towel so the sand wouldn't stick to him.
The cat lay on my keyboard and fell asleep.
The boy is lying on the ground reading a magazine.
In these previous sentences,
we could also include the word down after the verb lie.
He lay down on his towel...
The cat lay down on my keyboard...
LIE also has another meaning.
Here is the conjugation of the other meaning of the verb to lie.
Notice how it is a little different.
Lie can also mean to say things that are not true or to not tell the truth.
Why did you lie to me? I saw what you did!
She lied about eating the cake.
I don't believe him because he has lied so many times.
If you lie, your nose will grow.
Now let's look at the conjugation of these verbs together.
You will notice that the word lay is in the present tense of the verb to lay,
and also the past tense of to lie
As you have already seen, the meanings are completely different.
Also, the verb to lie has two different forms of conjugation depending on its meaning.
You can probably now see why even native English speakers can get confused by these verbs.
To practice, give me an example of each verb in the comments section below.
I will personally check all of your responses.
Also try our interactive game on our website.
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