Lie vs Lay

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Lie

Lie is a verb and means to rest or recline and it does not require a direct object.

Base Form	Past Tense	Past Participle
Lie	Lay	Lain

I often lie down on the floor when my back aches.

I lie in bed everyday.

Lay

Lay is a verb meaning to place something down, and thus, it requires a direct object.

Base Form	Past Tense	Past Participle
Lay	Laid	Laid

I lay my suitcase on the table when I come home everyday.

Lay or Lie

We don't say "I lay down" in present tense.

When we say "Lay down Jack." we are telling others to put Jack down horizontally.
So we cannot say something like
"You are tired. Why don't you lay down?" (Lay down what?)

There must be something to lay down.
Lay yourself down. (awkward)

We say "Lie down Jack, you look tired."

Hint
Remember by thinking of the phrase "lay an egg". Birds lay their eggs (down).

Warning:

As you may have noticed, past tense of "to lie" is lay, that's one of the biggest reasons why we confuse them. When used in past tense:

I lay down on the sofa when I went home yesterday. (past tense)
The verb used above is not "to lay", it's the past tense of "to lie".


Note:

Remember that "to lie" also has the meaning of making an untruthful statement intentionally. Past and past participle of that "lie" is lied and lied which should not be confused with the "lie" as in "lie down".

Lie vs Lay Exercise

Choose the correct options to complete the sentences.

1. My son was asleep so I carried him to his room and lay lie lied laid lain him on his bed.

2. I lay lie lied laid lain in bed for hours but I was awake the whole time.

3. I think she lay lie lied laid lain to me because I already know what really happened.

4. I am going to lay lie lied laid lain on the floor, it helps with my back ache.

5. I was scared that something happened to him as he just lay lie lied laid lain there motionless.

6. Let's lay lie lied laid lain down a little bit and rest.

7. Can we lay lie lied laid lain it down now? We are so tired.

8. We've finally lay lie lied laid lain the couch on the ground after carrying it for 20 minutes.

9. He's been lay lie lied lieing lying on the ground for 2 hours.

10. Ken seemed to have lay lie lied laid lain in the sun since the morning.

Correctness =
Correct answers:

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