Download The verbs “lay” and “lie” are both known as irregular verbs. An

You'll lay an egg if you don't lie down.
The verbs “lay” and “lie” are both known as irregular verbs. An irregular verb is “any verb
whose past tense and past participle are not formed by adding -ed, -d, or -t to the present tense; a
verb that does not follow the general rules of inflection.”1
So what is the difference between “lay” and “lie”? And why do people get confused by these two
words? First let’s define the two words.
Lay (transitive verb): to put or place in a horizontal position or position of rest; set down.
Present
Lay
Present Participle
Laying
Past
Laid
Past Participle
Laid
Lie (intransitive verb): to be in a horizontal, recumbent, or prostrate position, as on a bed or the
ground; recline.
Present
Lie
Present Participle
Lying
Past
Lay
Past Participle
Lain
The confusion forms because the word “lay” is the past tense form of lie. However, the two
words are completely different. So how can you tell the difference between the two? “Lay” is a
transitive verb while “Lie” is an intransitive verb.
What are transitive verbs and intransitive verbs? A transitive verb must have a direct object,
while an intransitive verb can work without an object. Look at the following example:
I lay the book on the table.
“Lay” is being used in the present tense and its direct object is book.
Yesterday, I lay on my bed all day.
The “lay” used above is the past tense form of lie. As you can see, “lay” does not have a
direction object. Don’t confuse “bed” as a direct object – it is part of a prepositional phrase. If
the prepositional form was taken out, the sentence would be
Yesterday, I lay all day.
So how do you keep track of all the different irregular forms for these two verbs? It’s simply
memorization.
1
Dictionary.com
Sources: http://web.ku.edu/~edit/lie.html; http://www.dictionary.com
For more resources:
www.cwu.edu/~writingcenter/