All Things Wild and Wooly

So, I’m kind of a grammar nerd. I don’t always know all the technical phraseology, but I generally know what to do in a given sentence.

English can be a perplexing language, with all of its irregularities in spelling and pronunciation (plough/cough/through, anybody?) as well as verb conjugations. One word pair that’s often vexatious is lay and lie.

“To lay” means “to place [something].” “To lie” means “to recline” (for our purposes; the dishonesty-related meaning of lie doesn’t enter in here). The list of conjugations below will show you where the trouble lies (heh).

Here are 1st person conjugations for lay:

I want to lay down the book. (Present)
I am/was laying the book on the table. (Gerund)
Yesterday, I laid down the book. (Past)
I will lay down the book. (Future)
I have laid the book down, but I don’t remember where. (Present participle)
I had laid the book on the bed when the phone rang. (Past participle)

And for lie:

I want to lie down. (Present)
I am/was lying on the couch. (Gerund)
Yesterday I lay in bed all day. (Past)
Tomorrow I will lie down. (Future)
I have often lain on the beach. (Present participle)
I had lain down when the phone rang. (Past participle)

As you can see, the past tense of lie being identical to the present tense of lay, in addition to the similarity between the words’ basic meanings, is what causes all the confusion.

Here’s one tip to keep things straight. “To lay” is a verb that requires an object, as the definition above implied — the laying has to be done to something. That’s why all the “lay” examples above include a book, while the “lie” examples don’t. So unless you’re referring to what you did yesterday when you took a nap, “lay” sentences will always be in the form “lay/laid the X down” (or lay/laid the X on the table/bed/wherever). If you’re talking about yourself in a horizontal position, you’re not laying, you’re lying (even if you’re telling the truth — okay, sorry, I’ll stop).

Another tip: “to lay” means “to place [X].” “Lay” sounds like “place,” and you can use the visual mnemonic “playce” as a reminder. “Lie,” on the other hand, has that i in the middle of it, and “I” am the one who needs to “lie” down.

So what about the title of the post, from the old children’s rhyme, “Now I lay me down to sleep”? Did “lay” used to have the same meaning as “lie”? No, it just means “Now I am laying myself down,” where “myself” corresponds to the X factor in our examples above.

Clear as mud? I hope this was helpful. If you have your own tricks or tips, share them in the comments!