Lay, Lie, Laid, Lain...huh?

So, I've never fully grasped the concept of the "lay or lie" rule....can somebody explain? Which word goes with which? WHen do you use lay and when do you use lie?

 

The easiest way is to point you to a page from Common Errors in English.

 

that makes much more sense.

 

here's a more detailed take:

http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Writing/l.html

scroll down to 'lay'... and save the site in your 'favorites' list, as it's the best site on style, rules 'n regs on the web, imo...

 

Wow...thank you very much, Maia! That's a great site (and it answers a question I have had forever.)

 

Super-excellent web tool! Thank you, Maia.

 

That site was good, maia, but i was really looking for the "have..." whatever it is. I forgot exactly what that was called.

 

do you mean as in, 'i have lain / have been lying here for hours and still can't get to sleep'?... would be the 'perfect' and 'perfect progressive' forms of past and present tense...

here's a good site/page for that:
http://leo.stcloudstate.edu/grammar/tenses.html