Irregular verb
lie
/laɪ/
- Base
- lie
- Past simple
- lay
- Past participle
- lain
Usage
lie takes no object (you lie down yourself) and its past simple is lay — easy to confuse with the verb lay, which takes an object.
Meaning
- to rest with your body in a flat position
Example
He lay on the sofa and read.
She lay awake for hours before falling asleep.
The old ruins have lain untouched for centuries.
Teaching note
Lie meaning recline is intransitive and forms lie, lay, lain. It is separate from the regular verb lie, lied, lied meaning say something untrue.
Common mistake
The sentence ‘I have laid on the sofa’ wrongly borrows the participle of lay, which requires an object.
Correction: Use ‘I lay on the sofa yesterday’ and ‘I have lain on the sofa’; use laid only when someone placed an object.