It's Sunday! I do not feel like waking up so early. Will I spend my day (lying/laying) in bed?
What is the difference between 'lie' and 'lay' and why is it confusing to remember?
Both 'lie' and 'lay' are verbs (action words).
"To lie" (besides meaning "to not tell the truth") means to make yourself become in a horizontal position. Like "The dog lies down on the grass everyday."
"To lay", on the other hand, is placing something else down (in a position that may or may not be horizontal). Like "The dog lays his dog bone on the ground."
So, what is the confusion?
The past tense of 'lie' is 'lay', which is written the same way as the present tense of 'lay'. So, when we see a sentence that goes like this:
"The chickens lay on their sides."
we become confused as to whether the 'lay' is the past tense of 'lie' or the present tense of 'lay'.
In such cases, we need to consider the meaning behind the words.
Here, the chickens are doing the actions to themselves, so they are most probably 'putting themselves in a horizontal position' instead of 'placing something else down'. Therefore, the 'lay' in the sentence refers to the past tense of 'lie'.
If we want to use 'lay' as a present tense in a sentence with 'chickens', the sentence will most probably sound like this:
"The chickens lay eggs on the ground."
(Here, the chickens are 'putting down' the eggs on the ground. The Simple Present Tense is used to show habit.)
Note that, apart from sharing the word 'lay', both words have different past tense and past participles (lie/lay/lain vs lay/laid/laid).
Be sure you check that you get the right word next time you use 'lie' or lay'!
About the Writer
Ms Vivien Wu is the founder of The Pedagogy Domain, a provider of small-group home-based language workshop for young learners. As an experienced teacher, trainer and facilitator, she is dedicated to improve learners' command of language through interactive, practical and fun workshops. Read more about her here.
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