Lie or Lay? What's the difference?

[@olgaath1511]

I'm lying in the sun, somewhere in Greece, watching your interesting video. I've laid my book on the towel just in case I need to read a new chapter before going home. Books are a good company, however your videos are great too!

[@rachelsenglish]

Another great video, Vicki!!

[@SimpleEnglishVideos]

Thank YOU for appearing in it for us Rachel!

[@skibitom]

Thank you very much dear Rachel for your excellent American English Lessons.

[@awdalysaleh4045]

Love u Rachel

[@awdalysaleh4045]

I'm laying on the bed . Is n't it ?

[@awdalysaleh4045]

I'll lie on you

[@chabelymariarodriguezpadro4021]

This video is so great. I don't have doubts about lie and lay now. Thank you.

[@silviaestevez5569]

Confused topic wonderfully explained!!!!!! Thanks teachers

[@SimpleEnglishVideos]

You are most welcome, Silvia. You are right. it is a difficult topic. This is Jay writing back to you. Native speaker often get this wrong, and I have to admit that I sometimes have to watch this video myself to remember the difference between Lay and Lie.

[@Amidamaru1717]

It's really simple to understand your examples. I wasn't understand either. But now I can get starting to practice.

[@SimpleEnglishVideos]

Hello André Munhoz, we're so glad you found this video useful. Thanks for writing to us and thanks for watching.

[@ahmetdagli6800]

making such a complicated matter simple, flawless

[@UBrittesEnglish]

Great video

[@SimpleEnglishVideos]

Thanks so much UBrittes English! :-)

[@alexfrt01]

Thank you for the video! I love you!

[@SimpleEnglishVideos]

Thanks so much Alex. :-)

[@samandarboymurodov8941]

Thanks a lot. I had been really confused about these verbs. Due to this video, I've learnt precisely.

[@SimpleEnglishVideos]

They confuse native English speakers as well, Samandar. We're glad we could help.

[@zahr6358]

This was the most confusing thing to me🤕.. but you presented it perfectly . You are unique teachers🌸🌸👍🏼

[@SimpleEnglishVideos]

Glad to hea it was helpful! Thanks Mashael. :-)

[@tedtalks396]

Thank you so much ,you are a good teacher.

[@SimpleEnglishVideos]

That's very kind of you to say, motivation word. Thanks for watching.

[@hichamelhadri4165]

The voice is terribly wonderful 👍

[@SimpleEnglishVideos]

Hope you liked it hicham.

[@franciscogouveia3823]

Wow... Now that I've found you my students are going to get in touch with you.

[@SimpleEnglishVideos]

+Francisco Gouveia Terrific - we love it when students learn from our videos. Thank you for writing.

[@abhinavsheshadri9666]

Thank you so much for this video! It really helped me with my SAT prep.

[@SimpleEnglishVideos]

Glad it helped!

[@lucyenglishinstructor4527]

Your videos are always soooo helpful! Thanks once again Vicki and Jay! All the best to you "lovely couple!" ;-)

[@SimpleEnglishVideos]

So glad they are useful Lucy. Thanks for writing.

[@TALKSchools]

Fantastic video lessons for our English language learners, Thank you!

[@SimpleEnglishVideos]

So glad you like them!

[@denchi22]

Very easy to understand. Great vid.

[@SimpleEnglishVideos]

Denchi22. We're really happy you found this video useful. Thanks for letting us know and thanks for watching.

[@fajril8391]

Keep going !! Love this channel.. so helpful

[@SimpleEnglishVideos]

Thanks so much Fajril.

[@andrewstiller1662]

excellent and easy-to-understand lesson. thanks!

[@SimpleEnglishVideos]

That's great. Thanks Andrew!

[@italianatoli4553]

Wonderful video ... thank YOU

[@SimpleEnglishVideos]

So glad you like it! Thanks Italiana Toli! :-)

[@Odessarose6]

Great video and explanation.

[@SimpleEnglishVideos]

Glad you liked it!

[@lakshmanankomathmanalath]

Creative!!!❤️ Thank you🙏😊💙

[@SimpleEnglishVideos]

Glad you liked it lakshmanan.

[@lakshmanankomathmanalath]

💙

[@comstocktheprophet9144]

Very nice video, short and valuable! Thank you very much

[@SimpleEnglishVideos]

Thank you so much for writing Comstock!

[@Анастасия-ц9ь8х]

You are so cool! Thank you for the video!

[@SimpleEnglishVideos]

Thank you for watching, Anastasia. :-)

[@dodyneudieck]

Three pluses for you +++. You are making a great job I like it very much. Thank you.

[@SimpleEnglishVideos]

Thanks so much for writing dody neudieck

[@johnmarvel8729]

Hi.. I’m Indonesian. I’ve been intensely learning English for 3 years. I can speak English to native speakers quite fluent (even though there’s still grammatical errors). But throw back to 2018, i found it’s so hard to say something similar as “the book is lying on the couch”. I tried to speak anything in English back then, but to say something on something made me confused. Because in my native language, to say “the book is lying on the couch” is “bukunya ada di sofa”. In english it’s like “the book there is on the couch”. And also in Bahasa Indonesia we don’t have preposition. In on and at have no difference. We simply use “di” (dee) as proposition. But time flies and i strained my self to think in English, and that’s a matter of time then i can be able to be like now.

[@SimpleEnglishVideos]

Congratulations on being able to think in English. That's a major achievement. We're so pleased we've been able to help you along. Thanks for letting us know and thanks for watching our videos.

[@ritaclaro2410]

Very useful.Thanks!

[@SimpleEnglishVideos]

That's good to hear. Thanks Rita. :-)

[@PhillGraaf]

Very informative! Thanks

[@SimpleEnglishVideos]

You're welcome!

[@lorenomenezesdasilveira]

Great video, very illustrative!

[@SimpleEnglishVideos]

That's great to hear. Thanks for writing Loreno. :-)

[@nanainh6797]

Thank you so much, Teachers. Even though I've already known it, the video makes me comprehend it better and really easy to remember. I really love the way you make videos, it does not seem like you are teaching and it is really cute.

[@huemy123]

Thank you very much. It's helpful and clear! 🌿

[@raimundosilva6982]

Very useful video. I gonna see it once more to fix the explanation.

[@SimpleEnglishVideos]

So glad it was helpful Raimundo. Thanks for watching.

[@annahrusakova2486]

So helpful, thank you!

[@SimpleEnglishVideos]

Delighted it was useful and sorry for my slow reply. Thanks for writing Anne. :-)

[@monsterheartless4793]

Thank you so much! It was a really easy explanation

[@SimpleEnglishVideos]

Glad it helped, Monster Heartless.

[@sakura3liza6]

This is what I'm searching. Thank you!

[@SimpleEnglishVideos]

Thant's great Liza. Glad it was useful.

[@glennpavel4800]

I loved this video! great job

[@speakenglishwithmremad3974]

All your videos are great and simple

[@SimpleEnglishVideos]

So glad you like them Eddie. Thanks for watching.

[@antoniettacozzolino1203]

Amazingly clear! I'm so happy I found you! British AND American English!!! How can I get in touch with you?

[@lrlizribeiro]

I was lain while I was watching this video. Nah, I lied, I was sitting.

[@SimpleEnglishVideos]

:-)

[@marclawson6144]

You mean, "I was lying (on the couch) while watching this video." Even though you were lying about lying in this instance, I bet you have lain while watching her KZbin videos before.

[@Wenxuemei]

It's similar to German words liegen (to lie) and legen (to lay). Now both languages are confusing... 😁. But you two are very good in explaining the difference. Thank you.

[@SimpleEnglishVideos]

So glad it was useful. Thanks Amy. :-)

[@celsoramos1461]

Thank you so much! You made it seems easier. So nice!

[@SimpleEnglishVideos]

So glad it was useful Celso. :-)

[@mussiearedo2343]

Excellent teachers

[@SidSiu]

Another practical video👏Cheers👍😊

[@SimpleEnglishVideos]

Glad you liked it Sid Sui. Thanks for writing.

[@keeperisme]

Thank you. You`re the great teachers!

[@vamsikumarkallem2909]

Thank you so much.... I'm still confused...But I'll practice these everyday until I get used to them.... Thanks again from India 🖖😊.

[@SimpleEnglishVideos]

Kallem, this is Jay writing back to you. Even native speakers like me get it wrong all the time. Sometime I have to refer back to this video too :-)

[@asmitashrestha8011]

You guys come up with great videos....❤️❤️

[@SimpleEnglishVideos]

So glad you like them Zest! Thank you!

[@limonhada2966]

I had to watch it 3 times but now I get it♥ thank you

[@SimpleEnglishVideos]

It's not easy, so congratulations. Even native speakers get this wrong. Thanks for watching, Sofi

[@rudolfblaha7701]

the english language is somtimes confusing. but dont worry i love it anyway. your language is very popular in my country. in slovakia. i realy like the way you teach english. i prefer british english but its good to learn american english too. good luck and thank you for your help

[@SimpleEnglishVideos]

Hi Rudolf. Great to meet you. We're so glad you like the videos and thank you for writing.

[@brunosacci4379]

Love you both!!🇬🇧🇺🇸👏👏

[@SimpleEnglishVideos]

Thanks so much Bruno. :-)

[@waleedwaleed668]

Thank you very much it was very useful.

[@SimpleEnglishVideos]

That's great to hear. Thanks for writing.

[@PLAYDATEMedia]

awesome! I love it.

[@Marcofialhoteacher]

I recommend the book "Irregular Verbs. The Ultimate Guide " by Bryan Feldman. 😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊

[@SimpleEnglishVideos]

Thanks for the recommendation, Marco.

[@chandraprakash934]

thank you very much !

[@SimpleEnglishVideos]

You're very welcome Chandra! So glad you like it.

[@anibalpacheco2738]

very good video

[@SimpleEnglishVideos]

Glad you like it Anibal. It was fun for us to make. Thanks for watching.

[@SabMCMLXIX]

very had a lesson so clear, I have to remember now,

[@SimpleEnglishVideos]

That's great. Thanks SabMCMLXIX

[@bbc953]

very good!!!

[@SimpleEnglishVideos]

That's great to hear. Thank you!

[@mrah5024]

You are great ✌😍

[@SimpleEnglishVideos]

Thank you so much 😀

[@yennguyenyeah]

Awesome video @Vicky and @Jay :) I learn a lot from all your videos .. I regret because I don't know you guys soon :)

[@SimpleEnglishVideos]

It's great to have you with us Yen and perhaps you'll find time to look back through our old videos. Thanks for writing.

[@sunilkumar-ey9es]

thank you, very much

[@SimpleEnglishVideos]

You're very welcome Sunil.

[@elizabethhogan3296]

We also can say lay the table in the US

[@SimpleEnglishVideos]

Where are you from Elizabeth?

[@brenoricardo1450]

What really makes me crazy is that even native English speakers speak wrongly.

[@SimpleEnglishVideos]

Breno, you're absolutely right. The difference between Lay and Lie is really hard for a lot of native speakers to remember. :-) Thanks for watching our video.

[@SaadAltuilaai]

What a GREAT video! I loved it all! But I have a question, at 5:24 was there a mistake or do I still not completely understand?

[@SimpleEnglishVideos]

Hi @Saad! So glad you liked it. The answer to the question 'Is Jay lying or laying here?' is he's lying. When he first put/placed himself on the couch he laid down. But after that, when he is at rest, he is lying down. Does that answer your question?

[@SaadAltuilaai]

#quote: "When he first put/placed himself on the couch he laid down." Ok, I though that "Lay" is supposed to have an object which in this case isn't presnt, UNLESS the object is implied which is "he laid HIMSELF down". I apologize for my disorganized and incoherent sentences. One more thing I so loved the channel that I watched almost all the videos in it today. Keep going, please.

[@SimpleEnglishVideos]

Saad Altuilaai That's exactly right Saad Altuilaai 'Himself' is the object in that sentence. And you should give yourself a pat on the back because you clearly understand 'lay' and 'lie' better than some native speakers. When Bob Dylan sang 'lay lady lay' , he should have sung 'lie lady lie' to be grammatically correct. (Though it might not have sounded so nice, of course.) And we're so glad you are enjoying the channel. Thank you for commenting.

[@newsreach]

+Simple English Videos Saying "He laid himself down" might have been clearer.

[@SimpleEnglishVideos]

+Mark Schirripa Yeah, I agree Mark.

[@MetaSaroy1]

That was great! Thank you!

[@engin7787]

It is a wonderful lesson ,I could not help loving it . My sincere regards to you all ! Is it right ...Can I use loving it , without breaking grammar rules ?

[@SimpleEnglishVideos]

These days, yes you can! :-) Strictly speaking 'love' is a stative verb that indicates a permanent state and we didn't use to use it in the continuous form very much. But that has been changing and you'll often see and hear a sentence like "I'm loving it" in English now. It suggests a feeling that is happening in the moment.

[@maximciucvaleria9589]

Awesome!

[@Thenotoriousgypsy]

Beautiful 👍

[@SimpleEnglishVideos]

Glad you liked it Pankaz! thanks for writing.

[@rafaellima6530]

Hey there! Could you tell me how to distinguish these sentences below?: "I talk to you" and "I talked to you", "I do that" and "I'd do that", "I try to" and "I tried to" it can be very tricky to non native speakers to notice the "ed" Sometimes when speaking. I'd really appreciate if you made a video about that, I'm new here but I'm loving your videos alredy! thanks a lot

[@SimpleEnglishVideos]

Thanks for the suggestion Rafael. We'll try to do something.

[@SimpleEnglishVideos]

Hi Rafael! Thanks for writing and so glad you like the videos. Those sentences you've highlighted are all extremely hard to distinguish in connected speech. When one word ends in a /t/ or /d/ sound and the next word starts with one, we often stop half way through the first sound and pronounce the second sound fully. But that isn't going to help you distinguish between the examples here. We'd need to rely on context to work out what the speaker's meaning was.

[@mrawesomeraptor]

this was perfect girl keep doing you!

[@kodandaaditya3356]

Thank you :)

[@SimpleEnglishVideos]

You are most welcome, kodanda Aditya.

[@lrlizribeiro]

Could you please make a video explaining the difference between "sit" and "seat"? I know that one is transitive and the other intransitive, but my question regards specifically the participle form of these verbs in a context that refers to the present, like this: "I am sat", and "Please be seated". Are these correct? Or should I use "I'm sitting" and "Please have a seat" instead? And why?

[@SimpleEnglishVideos]

Oh that's an interesting question Leonardo. We'll see what we can do.

[@lrlizribeiro]

Yay! Thank you very much! :D

[@elviraharada7859]

Seat as a noun is a provision of chairs or a place where the action "sit" will do. Sit is use as a verb. Meaning to rest supported by buttocks and thigh.

[@mirosawborek1025]

Love you and your vids :)

[@SimpleEnglishVideos]

Miroslaw, thank you so much for your kind words. And thank you for watching our videos.

[@superkeito]

hello in 5:22 can we say "Well first he lies down on the sofa ..." using lie down instead of lay (himself) down

[@SimpleEnglishVideos]

Yes you can Superkeito. Great question. I was not clear there and if I ever make this video again, I will try to improve that part.

[@alisondoan648]

Thank you very much! I like your videos a lot ^_^

[@SimpleEnglishVideos]

Yu Minh So glad you like them! Thanks for writing.

[@santiagofaiad2013]

Thank you very much ! A very useful explanation. My brain has burned out. Hahaha

[@v.m.c2925]

Thanks !!!! We are very funny

[@SimpleEnglishVideos]

:-)

[@sunilkumar-ey9es]

Vicky I am confused about " thank you so much and thank you very much " .... can you make a video about it

[@SimpleEnglishVideos]

They're very similar in this context, Sunil. 'So' is just a little more intense.

[@straightstraws4254]

Relaxing while watching this video and then Rachel comes and whaaat 😂💟

[@SimpleEnglishVideos]

Ha! That's funny, Jenn! Rachel lives in Philly, like us, and we're good friends. English language teaching stretches around the world, but we're actually a small community because people who are interested in the same thing just love getting together

[@straightstraws4254]

@@SimpleEnglishVideos I'm so happy to hear that you get on well! I've just discovered this wonderful channel and let me congratulate you 😁💟

[@waleedwaleed668]

Please. We need some lessons to differentiate between Present perfect and past simple.and also present continuous and past continuous. and Words or verbs are similar in pronunciation. Thanks.

[@SimpleEnglishVideos]

Thanks for this suggestion. We've made a video about the present perfect in British and American, but not one comparing the present perfect to the past. We'll put it on our list. The other suggestions are good too.

[@waleedwaleed668]

@@SimpleEnglishVideos Thanks so much. I wait impatiently.

[@zwieglupglup]

C'était limpide ! Merci !

[@SimpleEnglishVideos]

That's great to hear. Thanks zwieglupglup! :-)

[@nhathan428]

it so exciting! thanks so much!!!

[@SimpleEnglishVideos]

Delighted you like it!

[@nhathan428]

Simple English Videos ^_^

[@JessicaSantos-tm7qr]

Thank you so much for this tip. My brain was about to burn lmao

[@SimpleEnglishVideos]

We're glad your brain didn't catch fire, Jessica. Thanks for watching our video.

[@sergiomadrigal5581]

Love it thanks a lot!

[@اميرةالاحمد-ظ4م]

Have happy life together

[@SimpleEnglishVideos]

اميرة الاحمد, thanks for the kind wishes and thanks for watching our video.

[@PaoloBelloli]

«I think I saw(r) it lying on the couch» A good example of intrusive r ;)

[@SimpleEnglishVideos]

Oh yes! Well spotted Paolo! :-)

[@taherelsayed8044]

you.re great

[@SimpleEnglishVideos]

Thanks Taher. :-)

[@pradeepsoni1334]

so useful

[@sachinboodoosingh9680]

Wow thx this helped

[@SimpleEnglishVideos]

So glad it was useful. Sorry for our late reply and thanks for writing sachin. :-)

[@evag.m.1013]

You saved me

[@SimpleEnglishVideos]

Glad we could help, Eva.

[@rofernk4837]

One won't get these verbs wrong after watching this video lol

[@SimpleEnglishVideos]

You are right Roker. This is Jay writing back to you. Even though I'm a native speaker of English, I often forget the rule and review this video to get it right :-)

[@vidhappytrip669]

confuse. I lay down and watch this twice. for non native speaker, it's very hard to understand. I think we have remember it in deeply.

[@SimpleEnglishVideos]

Yes, these two verbs can be very confusing. Hoping the video helps.

[@diamondmc1754]

Ok, im polish and I pretty much mastered English but I have one problem. Why do people use lay instead of layed for example I lay on the ground pointing to the stars. It doesn't make any sense... Yes i know layed isn't a word but still it makes total sense.

[@SimpleEnglishVideos]

Ah, yes, why is that? Why can't everything be regular? And another thing about this DiamondMC. The most common verbs in English tend to be irregular. It seems the more we use them, the more irregular they get.

[@diamondmc1754]

True...

[@alispokenenglish]

Nice

[@SimpleEnglishVideos]

Thanks Ahammed

[@MatthewWechsler]

Who is Carter and why is he also in their bed?

[@SimpleEnglishVideos]

Ha! Our dog Carter is definitely not allowed in our bed. We'd never be able to sleep!

[@jennynadiailcdtaec9602]

Hello!

[@SimpleEnglishVideos]

Hi there!

[@marclawson6144]

Yesterday I lay on the grass. Gosh that sounds weird.

[@SimpleEnglishVideos]

That does sound a bit weird. Are you sure you don't mean laid, Marc?

[@Lima7179]

The Mrs is mother of teacher Raquel ?

[@SimpleEnglishVideos]

+Lindomar Lima Hi Lindomar! Do you mean Rachel of Rachel's English? And do you mean me - the Vicki in the video? We're not related but we are both friends.

[@senauysun9675]

Why don´t we use "laid"(to lay) here? The lions have lain in wait for their prey.

[@SimpleEnglishVideos]

Oh great question Ayse! If we lie in wait, we remain hidden, while waiting to attack. It would be odd if someone placed the lions there, and presumably they decided to lie there themselves. So the verb we need is lie (rather than lay) and the past participle is lain.

[@wetwojtek]

Could I say for example ,, I've got a headache . I need to lay myself in bed ?" Is that correct? Very useful video . Thanks a lot .

[@SimpleEnglishVideos]

Hi wetwojtek. In that situation we'd probably say 'I have a headache. I'll go and lie down'. It would probably be a more poetic or literary use if we talked about laying ourselves down. For example, from a Grimms fairy tale: “I can only save myself by feigning to be asleep;” so he laid himself down as if he were in a sound sleep.

[@hilarywhite2953]

Why isn't this person wearing shoes?

[@SimpleEnglishVideos]

Hi Hilary. That's a very good question. And it has a sort of technical answer. Our studio has a large cloth green screen as a background, and it extends across the floor. In video production we can replace the green with any images or colors we want. To protect the material of the green screen, Vicki sometimes doesn't wear shoes. I hope that answers your question. Thanks for writing to us and thanks for watching our video.

[@nandishn90]

ur awesome

[@SimpleEnglishVideos]

So glad you liked it Nandish and it was great to see you at the show. I will try to remember to ask Jay to pronounce your name next week. Remind me in the live chat if I forget.