Your best bet when deciding between the variations of lay and lie is to determine whether there is a direct object you.
Down to the floor lied.
Even though the subject and object are one and the same the object is still present in the sentence so you must use lay.
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.
Because you need a direct object only with lay you will know that the past tense is laid.
Yesterday i lay down next to her.
I won t ever lie again.
Lay is a transitive verb meaning it requires a subject.
Don t lie on the floor.
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.
You ve been lying down all day.
Lay the gun on the table e g.
Yesterday he lay in bed all day.
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 now i lay me down to sleep there is a subject i and an object me.
Lie past tense lied means to say something untrue.
She lies on the floor when doing yoga.
Don t lie to me.
Lied however refers to the past tense and past participle form of lie when it means to make an untrue statement present participle.
He has lain down with us.
I was laying the blanket on the floor.
Use a d when there is a direct object.
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.
I lay on the floor last week and you didn t say anything.
In i lie down to sleep there is no object to the sentence just subject i.
When you lay the blanket down blanket is the direct object.
The president lied about his tax returns.
If you re sick lie down.
Beyond the present tense the pair can become more confusing because lay is the past tense of lie and laid is the.
E g the man laid the gun on the table then lay down on the floor.
Little children often tell lies about silly things.
This draws the eye from side to side instead of down the length of the room.
To combat this problem lay the flooring horizontally.
The past tense of lie is lay and the past participle is lain.
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.
