There are plenty of jokes about how English is challenging, and for good reason. Among the many challenges with English usage is the case of
lay and
lie.
What makes these words so hard? Let's think about it…
Lie, to begin with, has two meanings. The "not tell the truth" aspect of lie brings in another whole conversation!
Skipping over that, we get to the place where
lie and
lay have the similar concept of the position of something. Though similar, they are different.
Using the Apple Dictionary program, consider these two definitions:
lay 1 |lā|
verb (past and past participle laid |lād| )
1 [ with obj. ] put down, especially gently or carefully: she laid the baby in his crib.
• prevent (something) from rising off the ground: there may have been the odd light shower just to lay the dust.
2 [ with obj. ] put down and set in position for use: it is advisable to have your carpet laid by a professional | figurative : the groundwork for change had been laid.
• set cutlery, crockery, and mats on (a table) in preparation for a meal: she laid the table for the evening meal.
• (often be laid with) cover (a surface) with objects or a substance: the floor was laid with tiles.
• make ready (a trap) for someone: she wouldn't put it past him to lay a trap for her.
• put the material for (a fire) in place and arrange it.
• work out (an idea or suggestion) in detail ready for use or presentation: I'd like more time to lay my plans.
• (lay something before) present information or suggestions to be considered and acted upon by (someone): he laid before the House proposals for the establishment of the committee.
• (usu. be laid) locate (an episode in a play, novel, etc.) in a certain place: no one who knew the area could be in doubt where the scene was laid.
• Nautical follow (a specified course).
• [ no obj. ] Nautical go or come: they had to lay aloft.
• [ with obj. ] stake (an amount of money) in a wager: she suspected he was pulling her leg, but she wouldn't have laid money on it.
3 [ with obj. ] used with an abstract noun so that the phrase formed has the same meaning as the verb related to the noun used, e.g., “lay the blame on” means ‘to blame’: she laid great stress on little courtesies.
4 [ with obj. ] (of a female bird, insect, reptile, or amphibian) produce (an egg) from inside the body: flamingos lay only one egg | [ no obj. ] : the hens were laying at the same rate as usual.
Worth noting, lay has other usages, such as in "lay person" or "she sang an old lay about the sea."
lie 1 |lī|verb (lies, lying |ˈlī-iNG| ; past lay |lā| ; past participle lain |lān| ) [no obj.]
1 (of a person or animal) be in or assume a horizontal or resting position on a supporting surface: the man lay face downward on the grass | I had to lie down for two hours because I was groggy | Lily lay back on the pillows and watched him.• (of a thing) rest flat on a surface: a book lay open on the table.• (of a dead person) be buried in a particular place.
2 be, remain, or be kept in a specified state: the church lies in ruins today | putting homeless families into apartments that would otherwise lie empty.• (of something abstract) reside or be found: the solution lies in a return to “traditional family values.”
3 (of a place) be situated in a specified position or direction: the small town of Swampscott lies about ten miles north of Boston.• (of a scene) extend from the observer's viewpoint in a specified direction: stand here, and all of Amsterdam lies before you.
4 Law (of an action, charge, or claim) be admissible or sustainable.noun (usu. the lie)the way, direction, or position in which something lies.• Golf the position in which a golf ball comes to rest, especially as regards the ease of the next shot.• the lair or place of cover of an animal or a bird.
Attempting to simplify this discussion, I have limited things to the verbs, though both lay and lie come with noun versions as well.
Also, congratulations, English, for making the past tense of
lie the word
lay. That helps!
So, the first question becomes knowing which (
lay or
lie) to use. Once the right word is found, then finding the right tense comes next.
The key difference is that lay always requires and object. If something is being placed somewhere, it is the word
lay (or the past tense,
laid) such as:
Bob and Mary lay the books on Mary's desk.
If something is just being described to be in a place, it is
lie (or the past tense,
lay) such as:
The books lie on Bob and Mary's desk.
How shall this ever be easy to remember? How about an analogous comparison?
Let us consider
sit and
set! (But, ignoring the connotation of
set to mean a group of things.)
These words work like lay and lie, yet seem to do so without nearly the confusion. Sit is an action that puts something into a particular position. Set is something that is done to something else.
Though it is possible to confuse these two words as well, I am inclined to think most writers do not as often mix these up, so we can see by example:
I am going to sit in this chair.
I am going to set this glass down, too.
If a command of
sit and
set is possessed, then mastery of that can be extended to
lie and
lay. (Or, if either of the two is mastered, then that mastery can easily be extended to the other.)
Look at the usage for
sit and
set:
Mary set the books on her desk.
and
The books sit on Mary's desk.
So, how does this help?
Set is analogous to
lay and
sit is analogous to
lie.
So, how does that help?
If you can remember how to use sit, then you can pair that with how to use lie. And here's the "trick"!
The second letter of lie and sit is (coincidentally) the same!
For writers who have no trouble with
sit versus
set, this relationship can inform the use of
lie and
lay. Once the correct word is found, then finding the correct tense follows, but getting to the correct word in the first place needs to be done…first.
