Don't lie to me.

It seems that many of you would like a refresher on lie vs. lay. We remember our teachers telling us that the words are easily confused, and we worry that we're doing it wrong, so instead of saying something like "lay the book over there," we'll use an entirely different word: "set the book over there."


The verbs "lie" and "lay" (in present tense) actually have different meanings. "Lie" is a physical action that humans and other living beings take for themselves, as in "I don't feel well; I am going to lie down for a bit."


"Lay" is the word we use for nonliving objects: "I need to lay this heavy box down!"


The problem is that "lie" uses "lay" as its past tense! "After I lay down for a bit, I felt a lot better!"


Ugh!


To help things out a bit, I'm going to explain "transitive" and "intransitive" verbs. One of the worst parts of grammar, in my opinion, is all of these "big" words that are used to describe the concepts. Whip out words like "subordinate" or "participle" or "transitive" and watch eyes glaze over!


A transitive verb takes an object. For instance, think about a verb like "gave". Whenever we use it, we want to know what was given, right?


"My friend gave _________________."


The noun that goes in the blank is something called a direct object. The terminology isn't super important right now.


Some verbs, though, are either intransitive or can be used as both. Let's use "moves" for this example."


"Steve moves quickly."


There is nothing that Steve moves in this case.


Going back to lie vs. lay, lie is an intransitive verb, because the subject is doing the lying himself.


"I need to lie down."


But with lay, there is an object involved. If I lay something down, I need to know what that object is. I can't just say, "I lay down." What did I lay down?


Here are the conjugations for lie for the first person:

Present: I lie down when I am tired.
Past: I lay down when I was tired.
Past Participle: I have lain down for many naps.
Present Participle: I am laying down right now!



Here are the conjugations for lay for the first person:

Present: I lay my keys on the counter. (Notice the object is "keys" in this sentence.)
Past: I laid my wallet nearby. (Object is "wallet".)
Past Participle: I have laid several acres of mulch. (Object is "acres".)
Present Participle: Don't let me forget; I am laying the needle here. (Object is "needle".)


Does that help? When you're trying to decide which to use, just think about whether you are using an object or referring to yourself. If you've got an object in mind, go for a conjugation of lay; if it's you that is going to become horizontal, use a conjugation of "lie."