Lie (irregular verb)

This page is about the irregular verb 'to lie' meaning 'to be horizontal', or 'to have one's weight supported by [e.g. a sofa, or the grass]'. Do not confuse thuis withe the identiacl looking and sounding 'to lie' meaning 'deliberately to say something that is not true', which is a regular verb: lie ~ lied ~ lied.) To avoid further confusions, you may want to see Laid - lay - lie - lied (the confusion is with the regular verb 'to lay'; and there is also a page about various nouns at lie - lay (nouns)'

'To lie' is an irregular verb. Its forms are given here:

Base form	past tense	-ed participle	Remarks
lie	lay	lain	Do not confuse with lay

This is one of the "the 250 or so irregular verbs" listed in Quirk 1985. The list "contains most of the irregular verbs in present-day English ... but is not meant to be exhaustive, particularly with regard to derivative verbs." AWE has copied most of the entries in that list. The verb 'to lie' belongs to Quirk's Class 4 A e.

The -ing participle and verbal noun are both spelled lying.