Lie and lay

The pair almost everyone gets wrong.

Two different verbs

To lie is to recline and takes no object: lie, lay, lain. To lay is to put something down and needs one: lay, laid, laid. The confusion comes from lay being the past tense of lie.

Yesterday I lay down. Yesterday I laid the book on the table.
Lied is only for telling untruths.

A quick test

Try replacing the verb with place. If place fits, you want lay. If it does not, you want lie.