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