This archive report was first published on 4 January 2020.
January 4, 2020, marked a day when a reader reached out to us with a common concern: the confusion surrounding the words 'lie' and 'lay'.
Yes, they are troublesome. The verb 'to lie' has two distinct meanings. Firstly, it means to utter a deliberate untruth, to cheat, or to deceive, often verbally.
Such dishonesty is called a lie (noun). To belie is to falsify, to disguise, or to camouflage. To give the lie to is to accuse of lying or to prove the falsity of a statement.
However, 'to lie' also means to be or to place oneself in a prostrate position on the ground or another horizontal surface. This other 'lie' has a different etymology, coming from the Old English 'lecgan', related to the Old High German 'ligen'. The word 'oneself' reminds us that, here, 'to lie' is a self-action.
For instance, Lake Victoria lies in East Africa by its own initiative. To lie is an intransitive verb, meaning the subject or 'doer' has no object. Instead, the subject becomes the object.
This is where the difference lies between 'to lie' and 'to lay'. The latter is not a self-action; it requires an agency. A brick lies in a building, but it is the builder who lays it there. Our laws lie in a document, but it is the MPs who lay them there.
The difference between 'to lie' and 'to lay' is also seen in their past tense forms. In line with its two meanings, 'to lie' has two past tense forms: 'lied' (meaning 'cheated') and 'lay' (meaning 'went horizontal'). That's where the confusion lies.
For the learner, the teacher may remind him that the past tense of the verb 'lay' (meaning 'to cause to lie') is not 'lied' but 'laid'. Never confuse them. It is 'lied' for one 'lie', 'lay' for the other 'lie', and 'laid' for 'lay'.
Indeed, if you add to this 'lay' the adjective 'lay' (meaning 'non-clerical' or 'belonging to the laity') and the noun 'lay' (a song), you may marvel at the complexity of the English language.
