Многие из нас делают ошибки в использовании глаголов "lay" и "lie". Наш подписчик, англичанин Ashley Roffe объясняет, как их правильно использовать. Он отмечает, что даже некоторые из тех, для кого английский - родной язык, иногда неправильно используют эти глаголы.
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I say he lay, but perhaps I lie)
To lay or to lie?
Let us start with the forms of these verbs which often confuse people:
To lie.
Infinitive: To lie on the bed.
Present: I lie on the bed.
Present participle: I am lying on the bed.
Past: I lay on the bed.
Past participle: I have lain on the bed.
To lay.
Infinitive: To lay her clothes on the bed.
Present: She lays her clothes on the bed.
Present participle: She is laying her clothes on the bed.
Past: She laid her clothes on the bed.
Past participle: She has laid her clothes on the bed.
Confusion exists because the past tense for to lie, is lay.
When a person is recumbent in the present: I lie, you lie, he lies, we lie, they lie.
When you need the infinitive: It is relaxing to lie on the beach.
Only in the past can you say: I lay, you lay, he lay, we lay, they lay.
You use lay in the present when something is being laid down, and NOT when you yourself are going to lie down:
The hen lays an egg.
I am a builder and I lay bricks.
The simplest way to remember the distinction is that "to lie" does not take take a direct object, but "to lay" does take a direct object:
She lies on the beach.
She lay on the beach.
but,
She lays the towel on the beach.
She laid the towel on the beach.
Unrelated meanings:
To lie - to be untruthful.
Infinitive: It was necessary to lie about my age.
Present: I lie about my age.
Present participle: I am lying about my age.
Past: I lied about my age.
Past participle: I have lied about my age.
To lie - to be, to exist
Infinitive: The difficulty is going to lie in finding enough volunteers.
Present: The difficulty lies in finding enough volunteers.
Past: The difficulty lay in finding enough volunteers.
In this sense of the verb, the participles are not used.