Lie & Lay

Lie Or Lay?

The verbs lie and lay confuse people because:

• their meanings can be similar
• one of the verbs (lie) has two completely different meanings
• they vary between regular and irregular according to sense
• they vary between transitive and intransitive according to sense
• the present tense of lay is the past tense of the irregular lie

The following table summarizes these similarities and differences:

	to lie	to lie	to lay
basic meaning	to tell a lie, an untruth	to recline; to be in or to take a horizontal/resting position	to put something down in a horizontal position
regular?	regular lie, lied, lied	irregular lie, lay, lain	irregular lie, laid, laid
transitive? direct object?	intransitive (no direct object)	intransitive (no direct object)	transitive (must have direct object)
3rd person s	lies	lies	lays
present participle	lying	lying	laying
past tense	lied	lay	laid
past participle	lied	lain	laid

Lie (regular, intransitive)

The first one above is easy. In the sense "to tell a lie, say something that is not true", lie is a regular verb and has no direct object. The past tense is always -ed. Look at these examples:

• Some people lie about their age.
• John lies about everything.
• "I'm forty-nine," he lied.
• We have all lied a few times in our lives.
• That's not true! You're lying!

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Lie (irregular, intransitive)

Now we come to the irregular lie, meaning "to be in, or to take, a horizontal/resting position". This is what we do on a bed, for example. We lie on our bed when we sleep.

The important thing to remember with lie is that it is intransitive, so there is no direct object. Look at this examples. You see there is no direct object.

Something	lies	(somewhere).
subject	verb
My dog	lies	on this mat.
Mary	is lying	on the sofa.

You also need to remember that the past tense of this lie is "lay", which is the same as the present tense of to lay. Look at this table of conjugation:

	present	past	present perfect
I	lie	lay*	have lain
you	lie	lay*	have lain
he, she, it	lies	lay	has lain
we	lie	lay*	have lain
you	lie	lay*	have lain
they	lie	lay*	have lain

*This is the same as the present tense of to lay.

Look at these example sentences:

• I feel sick. I want to lie on the bed.
• Usually I lie on the sofa and watch TV.
• My dog always lies on this mat.
• He loves this mat. Yesterday, he lay here all day.
• She has lain in bed since she got ill.
• After the aircrash, wreckage was lying all over the place.

Typical mistake

• I always lay on a bench to do this exercise. (should be lie)

Lie is something that we do to ourselves. Lay is something that we do to other people or things.

• I lie on the sofa when I'm tired.
• Mary lays the baby in its crib when it cries.

Lay (irregular, transitive)

The main meaning of the verb lay is "to put (something) down in a horizontal position".

The important thing to remember with lay is that it is transitive, so it MUST have a direct object. You cannot just lay. You have to lay something. Look at these examples. You see they all have direct objects.

Something	lays	something	(somewhere).
subject	verb	direct object
Chickens	lay	eggs.
Our chickens	lay	their eggs	on the ground.
The nurses	laid	the wounded man	on the bed.

Here is a table of conjugation:

	present	past	present perfect
I	lay	laid	have laid
you	lay	laid	have laid
he, she, it	lays	laid	have laid
we	lay	laid	have laid
you	lay	laid	have laid
they	lay	laid	have laid

Here are some example sentences:

• The policeman told him to lay his gun on the ground.
• The police usually lay a sheet over dead bodies.
• This chicken lays three eggs every day.
• He opened the books and laid them on the desk.
• I have laid the carpet. You can walk on it now.
• The phone rang just as she was laying the new clothes on the bed.

The verbs lie and lay can have other meanings too. Only the most common are shown here. There are also several phrasal verbs made with lie and lay. They follow the same basic rules as shown on this page.

Now answer the following quiz

Lie Or Lay Quiz

1	I'm not feeling well. I'm going to            --           lay           lie          down for an hour.	Click for answer         lie
2	Could you            --           lie           lay          the cookies out on a tray?	Click for answer         lay
3	The baby is            --           lying           laying          in the stroller in the hallway.	Click for answer         lying
4	They have            --           laid           lain          the new grass, but they haven't watered it yet.	Click for answer         laid
5	I            --           lied           lay          in the recliner for a while but I did't fall asleep.	Click for answer         lay
6	My neighbour            --           lied           laid          about the cost of the fence materials.	Click for answer         lied
7	The envelopes have been            --           laying           lying          on my desk since Friday.	Click for answer         lying
8	Is it okay if my grandma            --           lays           lies          down on this bench?	Click for answer         lies
9	The chickens            --           have laid           have lain          their eggs. Now we're waiting for the eggs to hatch.	Click for answer         have laid
10	I'm sunburnt. I            --           lay           lied          out in the sun all day yesterday.	Click for answer         lay