Lay and Lie Explained

The Best of the Grammar Diva
Originally posted June 15, 2013

Lay and lie are two of the most confusing verbs in the language. Hopefully, after reading this blog post, you will finally be confident of the difference.

Let’s start here:

I read the books.

I play Monopoly.

He buys a shirt.

Look at the bolded words in the above sentences. They all receive the action of the verb. What do I read? Books. What do I play? Monopoly. What does he buy? A shirt. These words are all nouns (things) and are called direct objects.

Now look at these sentences:

I read all the time.

I play in the park.

He buys with a credit card.

What do I read? What do I play? What does he buy? These sentences don’t give the answer. They may answer the question where? (in the park), when? (all the time), or how? (with a credit card), but there is no noun (or pronoun) that answers what ? (or whom). In other words, those sentences, although they use the exact same verbs, have no direct objects.

Verbs that have direct objects are called transitive  verbs. Verbs that have no direct object are called intransitive verbs. Obviously, from the examples, the same verbs can be either, depending upon how they are used in the sentence. Some verbs, however, are usually transitive, and others are usually intransitive.

What on earth does this have to do with lay and lie?

Here we go: Lay is a transitive verb. Lie is an intransitive verb. Simply put, you must lay something.

Here are some examples of lay used correctly:

I lay my blanket on the sand. (lay a blanket)
Please  l ay your books  on the table. (lay books)
I am  laying my pen  here, so I don’t forget it. (laying my pen)

Here are some examples of lie used correctly:

I  lie  on the sand to get a tan.
The books  are lying  on the table.
My pen  is lying  on the desk.

*Notice that lay and lie have nothing to do with whether you are talking about people or objects. Objects can lie as well as people!

But wait! We have talked about only the present tense. The past tense is where things get complicated.

First, let’s talk about the verb lay, which is pretty simple.

Today, I am  laying  my blanket on the sand. (Present tense –  lay or laying ).
Yesterday, I  laid  my blanket on the sand. (Past tense –  laid or was laying )
Every day this week, I  have laid  my blanket on the sand.  (Past participle form, used with  have  or  had  –  have laid or  have been laying )

Now, let’s talk about lie which is a little weirder:

Today, I am  lying  on the sand. (NOT laying – present tense –  lie or lying )
Yesterday, I lay on the sand. (Yup! The past tense of  lie  is  lay . They did it to confuse us!  Lay or was lying )
Every day this week, I  have lain  on the sand. (Past participle form, used with  have  or  had . Yes, lain is a word!  Have lain or have been lying)

Here is the verb LAY, completed conjugated, all six tenses:

Present:  lay  or  laying
Past: laid or was laying
Future:  will lay  or  will be laying 
Present Perfect:  have laid  or  have been laying
Past Perfect:  had laid  or  had been laying
Future Perfect:  will have laid  or  will have been laying

And here is the verb LIE, completely conjugated, all six tenses:

Present:  lie  or  lying
Past:  lay  or  was lying
Future:  will lie  or  will be lying
Present Perfect:  have lain  or  have been lying
Past Perfect:  had lain  or  had been lying
Future Perfect:  will have lain  or  will have been lying

There! I hope this post has cleared up some of your confusion about lie and lay. As always, I welcome any questions  or comments. Now, I think I need another cup of coffee! Happy weekend!

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