Lay means to place something down flat while lie means to be in a flat position on a surface the key difference is that lay is transitive and requires an object to act upon and lie is intransitive describing something moving on its own or already in position.
Down to the floor lied.
We also use lie as a verb meaning to speak falsely or create untruths.
I lay on the floor last week and you didn t say anything.
Little children often tell lies about silly things.
The past tense of lie is lay and the past participle is lain.
E g the man laid the gun on the table then lay down on the floor.
Don t lie on the floor.
To combat this problem lay the flooring horizontally.
I won t ever lie again.
Lay is a transitive verb meaning it requires a subject.
When you lay the blanket down blanket is the direct object.
Yesterday i lay down next to her.
Lie is instransitive now lie on the floor it gets tricky in the past tense because the past tense of lay is laid and the past tense of lie is lay.
He has lain down with us.
The president lied about his tax returns.
Because you need a direct object only with lay you will know that the past tense is laid.
Lied however refers to the past tense and past participle form of lie when it means to make an untrue statement present participle.
Lie past tense lied means to say something untrue.
In now i lay me down to sleep there is a subject i and an object me.
Lay is a transitive verb meaning it needs to transport something i e.
Your best bet when deciding between the variations of lay and lie is to determine whether there is a direct object you.
The past tense of lie as in to tell an untruth is lied as you can see the past tense of lie is lay but the past tense of lay is laid which is a recipe for confusion to remember that laid as opposed to lain is the past tense of lay just memorize this phrase.
Even though the subject and object are one and the same the object is still present in the sentence so you must use lay.
She lies on the floor when doing yoga.
Yesterday he lay in bed all day.
Use a d when there is a direct object.
The verbs lay and lie are total jerks people often say lay when they mean lie but it s wrong to lay around you have to lay something anything lay an egg if you want but you can lie around until the cows come home.
Don t lie to me.
This draws the eye from side to side instead of down the length of the room.
I was laying the blanket on the floor.
He lied about where he got the.
Lay the gun on the table e g.
Just like a horizontally striped shirt can make people look wider than they are the horizontal stripes created by the floor boards have the same effect on a room.
In i lie down to sleep there is no object to the sentence just subject i.