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Lay vs. Lie 1613 Views


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Want even more deets on Lay vs. Lie? Click here to review. Or take a look at our entire grammar section for all the goods.

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Transcript

00:04

Lay versus Lie, a la Shmoop.

00:08

There's nothing quite so nice as laying in bed on a Saturday morning...

00:11

...or is it supposed to be lying in bed?

00:13

Argh! It's the weekend! We shouldn't have to be thinking about grammar!

00:17

Sorry... just a couple minutes of your time and then you can get back to sleep...

00:21

Here's the rule for "lay" versus "lie"...

00:24

..."lay" requires a direct object...

00:28

...and "lie" does not.

00:29

Keep in mind... we're talking about the setting/reclining kind of "lie"...

00:32

...not the "lie" you tell your teacher when you forget to do your homework.

00:38

Let's look at some examples. You might tell your dog to lie down on the floor...

00:43

...and you might also tell him to lay his favorite bone down on the floor.

00:47

The example with "lay" has a direct object...

00:50

...the bone...

00:51

...but the example with "lie" does not. More examples! Helen laid the book on the table.

00:58

Tommy laid the hot dog on the plate.

01:01

Your mom has laid the car keys in your hand...

01:05

Notice how all of these sentences include direct objects...

01:08

...the book, the hot dog, and the car keys. Remember that sentences with "lie", on

01:13

the other hand, don't require direct objects.

01:16

You could say, "Grandpa is lying in the jacuzzi"...

01:19

...or, "Ethan has lain on the beach". See? No direct objects!

01:25

We get that it might be difficult to remember that "lay" requires a direct object...

01:30

...and "lie" does not. So, here are a couple of tricks to help you out.

01:34

Recall that the word "lie" means to "recline"...

01:36

...and the word "lie" sounds like it is in "rec-lie-ne".

01:41

Now, if you want to remember that the word "lay" requires a direct object...

01:46

...think of the phrase, "Lay it on me"...

01:48

...where you're laying something, that "it", on me.

01:53

There's a little additional craziness, however. The past tense of "lie"...

01:56

...which does not require a direct object...

02:00

...is "lay". Oy.

02:03

In this case, just remember the phrase, "Yesterday, down I lay." Still no direct object in sight.

02:08

And now that we've got this whole "lay" versus "lie" thing ironed out...

02:12

...you can go lie back down...

02:13

...if you think your brain will let you.

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