Lie vs. Lay

Don’t Say: She lays down for a nap after her mother visits.
Say Instead: She lies down for a nap after her mother visits.

Here’s Why: Though “lie” and “lay” have closely related meanings, they’re two entirely different verbs. “Lay” is a tran­sitive verb, meaning to put or place or prepare something—that “something” being the verb’s direct object. “Lie,” on the other hand, is an intransitive verb that takes no object, and it means to be in a state of reclining. Said another way, “lying” is some­thing you do yourself, or something an object is doing for itself inanimate objects such as books can be said to be in a state of reclining as well as people can. “Laying,” on the other hand, is more action-oriented. It’s something a person is doing to an­other thing. For example, you may lay (not lie) a book on a table, after which the book may be said to be lying (not laying) on the table. The following are correct uses of “lie” and “lay”:

Lie down and go to sleep.
(Not lay down—we’re not asking this person to put or place something else down, we’re asking him to take a reclining position.)

Don’t just lie there, do something!
(Same thing—we’re talking about a person in a state of reclining.)

He lays down the law at his house.
(Here things are different—no one’s reclining; in fact, this man seems busy. He’s putting something down, in this case the law, which is the direct object. So the transi­tive verb “lays” is correct.)

She is laying the foundation for a takeover.
(Again, she’s putting something in place, the foundation. This isn’t about reclining.)

That dog of yours is lying on the couch again.
(Here we are talking about reclining, a thing the dog is happily doing for itself, so “lying” is correct.)

Just let it lie.
(The “it” here isn’t having anything done to it; it’s just lying there. “Lie” is the correct choice.)

Perhaps the trickiest aspect of “lie” and “lay,” however, is what happens when you’re describing something that happened in the past or is to happen in the future. The forms of the two verbs look more similar then, because some of the “lie” forms have an “a” in them. For example, the past tense of “lie” is “lay.”

Three rules can help guide you through the “lay/lie” maze:
1. “Lie” is about the state of reclining or rest, and “lay” is about putting or placing something.
2. Every form of “lay” must take an object.
3. No form of the verb “lie,” meaning to recline, has a “d” in it.

Here are a few more examples of incorrect and correct uses of these two verbs:
Instead of It laid there for weeks, say It lay there for weeks.
(Let’s look to our three rules to see why “lay” is correct here. First, the meaning—we’re talking about something in a state of rest, not putting or placing something. That tells us we’re in the “lie” category. Second, objects— there’s no object here. More confirmation that we should be dealing with “lie” and not “lay.” Third, tense forms— “laid” has to be wrong when we’re dealing with the verb “lie” because it has a “d” in it, and no form of “lie” has a “d.” “Lay” is the correct past tense of “lie.”)

Instead of Amy had just laid down when he called, say Amy had just lain down when he called.
(“Had lain” is correct because it’s part of the “lie” family, its past perfect tense to be exact, and again, we’re talking about a person doing her own reclining. And remember, once you know that you should be using “lie” instead of “lay,” you know that any form with a “d” in it is out of bounds.)

Instead of By the time we leave next week, we will have lain some ground rules for the kids, say By the time we leave next week, we will have laid some ground rules for the kids. (Even when things get tricky with tenses, the same rules apply. The meaning here? We’re talking about putting something in place, namely the ground rules. The rules are a direct object. So we know we want the verb “lay.” Then all we have to do is get the tense form right...and remembering that the forms with “d” belong to “lay,” we know that “will have laid” is correct.)