Something to remember

Some confusing verbs     …at least for me

1.        Lie (irregular) /lai/, lay /lei/ and lain /lein/ In Spanish: recostarse, extenderse

Lie: a) To be in a position in which your body is flat on the floor, on a bed, etc. b) To be or to stay in a horizontal position. He was lying in the sun for too long.

2.       Lie (regular) /lai/, lied and lied  In Spanish: mentir

Lie: a) To tell a lie, b) To deliberately tell someone something that is not true. I could tell from her face that she was lying.

3.       Lay (irregular) /lei/, laid and laid /leid/ In Spanish: poner, extender, poner un huevo

Lay: a) To put someone or something down carefully into a flat position. Lay your books on the table, please. Laying my coat carefully on the bed, I crept towards the door. b) If a bird, insect, etc. lays eggs, it produces them from its body.  The flies lay their eggs on decaying meat.

Usage note about lay

You lay something somewhere, but you lie somewhere. He laid his things on the bed but he lay on the bed. In spoken British English you will also sometimes hear things like: I want to lay down (instead of I want to lie down) but some people consider this to be incorrect.