Lay and lie confuse even native speakers, mostly because the past tense of lie is lay. A chart and one question make it manageable.

The short answer #

  • Lay means to put or place something. It always needs an object: Lay the book on the table.
  • Lie means to rest or recline. It never takes an object: I need to lie down.

The question to ask #

Is something being placed?

  • Yes → lay (lay the baby down, lay your phone on the desk)
  • No, someone or something is just resting → lie (lie on the sofa, the papers lie on the desk)

The tense chart #

Present Past Past participle -ing
lay (put) lay laid laid laying
lie (recline) lie lay lain lying

The tricky part: lay is also the past tense of lie.

  • Today I lie down. Yesterday I lay down. I have lain down.
  • Today I lay the keys here. Yesterday I laid them here. I have laid them here.

Examples #

  • Please lay the forms on my desk.
  • He laid the phone face down.
  • I'm going to lie down for an hour.
  • The dog lay in the sun all afternoon.

Lie (tell an untruth) #

The other lie, meaning to say something false, is regular: lie, lied, lied. He lied about his age.

Common mistakes #

Wrong Right
I'm going to lay down. I'm going to lie down.
She laid in bed all day. She lay in bed all day.
Lie the box over there. Lay the box over there.

Leave it to AI #

AI Grammar Checker sorts out lay, lie, laid, and lain for you in one tap.