What's the difference between "lay" and "lie"?
fall asleep.
When I do, I get questions like this one:
"You
want him to lay down" or "You want him to lie down"? I am
confused.
So how should you use "lay" and
"lie"?
The correct use of "lay" and
"lie"
"Lay" and "lie" are
confusing and even controversial, both for English learners and for native
English speakers.
Strictly speaking, "lay" is a transitive verb.
In other words, you "lay" something somewhere:
When I get
home I usually lay my keys on the table next to the front door.
I think you
laid it on the table.
We're supposed to use "lie" intransitively. In other words, it
does not have an object.
We use it like this:
Why don't
you lie down?
Sometimes I
like to lie in the grass and look up at the sky and think.
But there's an extra complication: when you're talking about the past,
you're supposed to use "lay":
Clark wasn't
feeling, so I lay down with him until he wen to sleep.
And another complication: we use "have lain":
I have never
lain on a more comfortable bed!
How English speakers use "lay" and "lie" in practice
The rules outlined above are complicated. Some English speakers follow
them. But most
don't. That might be because:
- they
don't know the rules for "lay" and "lie"
- they
know the rules but don't follow them
- they
know the rules but only follow them in formal situations
So how do most English speakers use "lay" and "lie"?
We say "lay" for present tense and "laid" for past
tense:
When I get
home I usually lay my keys on the table next to the front door.
Why don't
you lay down?
I think you
laid it on the table.
Clark wasn't
feeling, so I laid down with him until he wen to sleep.
And we use "have laid":
I've never
laid on a more comfortable bed!