When you’re feeling tired, sometimes you just need to lay down. Or wait — is it lie down? Grammar can be confusing, but don’t fret: You’re not the only person who is fuzzy on the details of grade-school English class. One of the trickiest (and most easily forgotten) lessons seems to be the difference between “lay” and “lie” and when it’s appropriate to use one over the other. To clarify, in this context, “lie” doesn’t mean “to fib” — we’re talking exclusively about the placement meaning of the verb.
“Lay” and “lie” are mixed up more frequently than identical twins, as both words refer to people or objects positioned horizontally on a surface. But it’s actually quite easy to tell the two words apart — at least in the present tense. The past tense, however, is where things get tricky. Here are a few easy tips to help you differentiate between the two words.
“Lay” is a transitive verb, and “transitive” refers to objects that are being acted upon. So, if you’re in the act of putting down a book before going to sleep, you’d say, “I lay the book on the nightstand,” because you’re performing an action on the book. In the past tense, you would say, “I laid the book on the nightstand.”
Intransitive verbs such as “lie” refer to things acting of their own volition — such as humans. (Here’s a quick memory tip: Only a person can lie on a bed and tell a lie.) An appropriate use here would be, “I lie on the grass in my yard.” But this is where things get even more confusing — the past tense of “lie” is “lay.” So, if you were sitting in the grass hours ago, you’d say, “I lay in my yard.”
As for that nap conundrum? It’s “I’m going to lie down,” but “I lay down for a nap earlier.”
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