Lay vs Lie

The English verbs lay and lie are commonly confused by even native English speakers. I’m not lying when I say that you can now lay your fears of not knowing the difference to rest.

Lay

Lay is a transitive verb , which means that it must be used with a direct object. The past tense and the past participle of lay are both laid.

Please lay the books on the table.
I am laying the books on the table.
I laid the books on the table.
Have you laid the books on the table?

Have you ever seen a chicken lay an egg?
The chicken has been laying eggs all week.
The chicken just laid two eggs.

“Now I lay me down to sleep…”
He laid himself down to sleep.

Lie

Lie is an intransitive verb, which means it cannot have a direct object. The past tense of lie is layand the past participle is lain.

Lie down next to me.
I am lying next to her.
Yesterday, I lay down next to her.
He has lain down with us.

I just want to lie in bed all day.
I’m thinking about lying in bed all day.
Yesterday, he lay in bed all day.

Don’t lie on the floor!
I lay on the floor last week and you didn’t say anything.

Lie (past tense lied) means to say something untrue.

Don’t lie to me.
He lied about where he got the money.