Lie vs Lay

Don’t trust native English speakers with this one!

One of the best ways to learn a new word is to listen closely to how native speakers use it. However, I do NOT recommend this approach for the words “lie” and “lay”. Why, you ask? Because native English speakers often confuse these two words. Let’s take a closer look at them.

“To Lie” has two meanings

First of all, “to lie” has two different definitions:

1. To say something untrue, to tell a falsehood
2. To be in, or to move into, a horizontal position

The first definition, to tell a falsehood, is clear and does not get confused with “to lay”. It’s the second definition of “to lie” (to be in a horizontal position) that often gets confused with “to lay”.

The difference between “to lie” and “to lay”

“To lie” refers to being in a horizontal position. “To lay” is the action of placing or putting something down.

Examples:

– Every day after work, Shira lies on the sofa for 20 minutes.
– Shira is lying on the sofa.

– When Margaret sets the table, she lays the fork on the left.
– Margaret is laying the fork to the left of the plate.

Why do so many people confuse these two words?

These two words get confused often because:

1. they sound alike
2. the meanings of both words imply a “down” action
   • If someone is lying (reclining/horizontal),
     we could say; (she/he) is “lying down“
   • If someone is laying something somewhere (putting/placing something),
     we could say; (she/he) is “laying something down“

But what makes the confusion even worse, is the simple past verb tense of these words.

The simple past of “to lie” is “lay“!! But don’t confuse the meaning! In this instance, “lay” is referring to the action of reclining or being horizonal – but in the past.

The simple past of “to lay” is “laid“

Examples:

Yesterday, after work, Shira lay on the sofa for 20 minutes.

When Margaret set the table yesterday, she laid the fork to the left of the plate.

Watch the video – and take the quiz!

To improve your understanding of the difference of “to lie” and “to lay”, please watch the video above – and then test yourself by taking the quiz at the end. Let me know how it goes! I would love to hear from you.

-Cheryl