Confusing words: "Lay" and "Lie"

 

LAY Irregular Verb TRANSITIVE (needs an object)	LIE Irregular Verb INTRANSITIVE (no object)	LIE Regular Verb INTRANSITIVE (no object)
(to put something down) lay - laid - laid - laying	(to recline on a bed, etc.) lie - lay - lain -lying	(to tell a lie) lie - lied - lied - lying
Maris must lay everything on the table for dinner. Maris laid a fork on the table. Now she's laying a napkin there.	Don likes to lie on the sofa. He's lying on the sofa now. He's lain there for an hour.	Pat lies to her mom. She is lying to her mom now. She's lied to her mom many times.

Use "lay" if you mean "put" or "place." "Lay" is transitive and takes an object. For "lay," use "laid" in the past tense and with "to have".

Use "lie" if you mean "rest."  "Lie" is intransitive and it's used with prepositions such as "on" or adverbs such as "here."   The past tense forms are confusing.  

1. "Lay" is, in fact, the past tense of "lie," so you would say, "I lay in bed yesterday."  
2. Use "lain" with "to have": "I have lain in bed for two hours." 
3. If you mean "tell a lie," use "lied" in the past tense and with "to have." The "–ing" form for "lie" in either sense is "lying."