Stay vs. Stays — What's the Difference?
By Maham Liaqat & Urooj Arif — Updated on April 16, 2024
"Stay" typically functions as a verb, implying remaining in a specific place or condition, while "stays" is its third person singular form, used with subjects like he, she, or it.
Difference Between Stay and Stays
Table of Contents
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Key Differences
"Stay" is often used to express the action of remaining somewhere or continuing to be in a particular state. For instance, one might say, "I will stay at home today." On the other hand, "stays" is specifically used when referring to third-person singular subjects in the present tense, such as in "She stays calm under pressure."
In commands or requests, "stay" is commonly used irrespective of the subject. For example, "Stay quiet!" Whereas, "stays" cannot be used in imperative forms and is inappropriate in direct commands.
"Stay" adapts to various tenses by changing form, like "stayed" for past actions or "staying" as a present participle. Conversely, "stays" remains unchanged across tenses, always indicating present-tense, third-person singular.
In expressions and idiomatic usage, "stay" appears frequently, such as in "stay tuned" or "stay away." In contrast, "stays" would typically not appear in these fixed expressions unless fitting a third-person singular context, like "He always stays tuned."
Grammatical flexibility shows that "stay" can be used with any subject except third-person singular in simple present tense. On the other hand, "stays" is restricted to singular, third-person subjects like "he," "she," or "it."
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Comparison Chart
Subject Compatibility
Any subject (I, you, we, they)
Third-person singular (he, she, it)
Tense Flexibility
Changes forms (staying, stayed)
Fixed form (stays)
Usage in Commands
Yes (e.g., Stay here!)
No
Common Idiomatic Usage
Yes (e.g., stay strong)
Rare
Example in Present Continuous
"I am staying"
"He stays" (not used in continuous)
Compare with Definitions
Stay
Remain unchanged or stable.
The weather is expected to stay warm.
Stays
Third person singular of stay; remains in a place.
She stays at her friend's house.
Stay
Remain in the same place.
I decided to stay at home.
Stays
Remains in effect or operation.
The rule stays in effect until notified.
Stay
Continue in a fixed state or condition.
Stay silent during the movie.
Stays
Maintains a position without change.
The cat stays outside at night.
Stay
Adhere to a specific course of action.
Stay focused on your goals.
Stays
Continues to be in a particular condition.
He always stays cheerful.
Stay
Delay leaving a place.
We stayed at the party until midnight.
Stays
Sticks to a decision or plan.
She stays true to her words.
Stay
To continue to be in a place or condition
Stay home.
Stay calm.
Stays
To continue to be in a place or condition
Stay home.
Stay calm.
Stay
To remain or sojourn as a guest or lodger
Stayed at a motel.
Stays
To remain or sojourn as a guest or lodger
Stayed at a motel.
Stay
To linger or wait in order to do or experience something
We stayed to watch the final minutes of the game.
Stays
To linger or wait in order to do or experience something
We stayed to watch the final minutes of the game.
Stay
To continue or persist in an action or activity
Stayed with the original plan.
Stayed in college.
Stays
To continue or persist in an action or activity
Stayed with the original plan.
Stayed in college.
Stay
To keep up in a race or contest
Tried to stay with the lead runner.
Stays
To keep up in a race or contest
Tried to stay with the lead runner.
Stay
(Games) To meet a bet in poker without raising it.
Stays
(Games) To meet a bet in poker without raising it.
Stay
(Archaic) To stop moving or stop doing something.
Stays
(Archaic) To stop moving or stop doing something.
Stay
To remain during
Stayed the week with my parents.
Stayed the duration of the game.
Stays
To remain during
Stayed the week with my parents.
Stayed the duration of the game.
Stay
To stop or restrain; check
Doubt stayed his hand.
Stays
To stop or restrain; check
Doubt stayed his hand.
Stay
To suspend by legal order the implementation of (a planned action), especially pending further proceedings
Stay a prisoner's execution.
Stays
To suspend by legal order the implementation of (a planned action), especially pending further proceedings
Stay a prisoner's execution.
Stay
To satisfy or appease temporarily
Stayed his anger.
Stays
To satisfy or appease temporarily
Stayed his anger.
Stay
(Archaic) To wait for; await
"I will not stay thy questions. Let me go.
/ Or if thou follow me, do not believe / But I shall do thee mischief in the wood" (Shakespeare).
Stays
(Archaic) To wait for; await
"I will not stay thy questions. Let me go.
/ Or if thou follow me, do not believe / But I shall do thee mischief in the wood" (Shakespeare).
Stay
To brace, support, or prop up
The tower is stayed with cables.
Stays
To brace, support, or prop up
The tower is stayed with cables.
Stay
To put (a ship) on the opposite tack or to come about.
Stays
To put (a ship) on the opposite tack or to come about.
Stay
A brief period of residence or visiting.
Stays
A brief period of residence or visiting.
Stay
The order by which a planned action is stayed.
Stays
The order by which a planned action is stayed.
Stay
The consequence of such an order.
Stays
The consequence of such an order.
Stay
The act of halting; check.
Stays
The act of halting; check.
Stay
The act of coming to a halt.
Stays
The act of coming to a halt.
Stay
A support or brace.
Stays
A support or brace.
Stay
A strip of bone, plastic, or metal, used to stiffen a garment or part, such as a corset or shirt collar.
Stays
A strip of bone, plastic, or metal, used to stiffen a garment or part, such as a corset or shirt collar.
Stay
Stays A corset.
Stays
Stays A corset.
Stay
(Nautical) A heavy rope or cable, usually of wire, used as a brace or support for a mast or spar.
Stays
(Nautical) A heavy rope or cable, usually of wire, used as a brace or support for a mast or spar.
Stay
A rope used to steady, guide, or brace.
Stays
A rope used to steady, guide, or brace.
Stay
(transitive) To prop; support; sustain; hold up; steady.
Stays
Plural of stay
Stay
(transitive) To support from sinking; to sustain with strength; to satisfy in part or for the time.
Stays
A corset.
Stay
To stop; detain; keep back; delay; hinder.
Stays
A woman's close-fitting foundation garment
Stay
To restrain; withhold; check; stop.
Stay
To cause to cease; to put an end to.
Stay
To put off; defer; postpone; delay; keep back.
The governor stayed the execution until the appeal could be heard.
Stay
(transitive) To hold the attention of. en
Stay
To bear up under; to endure; to hold out against; to resist.
Stay
To wait for; await.
Stay
To remain for the purpose of; to stay to take part in or be present at (a meal, ceremony etc.).
Stay
To rest; depend; rely.
Stay
To stop; come to a stand or standstill.
Stay
To come to an end; cease.
That day the storm stayed.
Stay
To dwell; linger; tarry; wait.
Stay
To make a stand; to stand firm.
Stay
(intransitive) To hold out, as in a race or contest; last or persevere to the end; to show staying power.
That horse stays well.
Stay
(intransitive) To remain in a particular place, especially for a definite or short period of time; sojourn; abide.
We stayed in Hawaii for a week.
I can only stay for an hour.
Stay
To wait; rest in patience or expectation.
Stay
To wait as an attendant; give ceremonious or submissive attendance.
Stay
To continue to have a particular quality.
Wear gloves so your hands stay warm.
Stay
To live; reside
Hey, where do you stay at?
Stay
To brace or support with a stay or stays
Stay a mast
Stay
To incline forward, aft, or to one side by means of stays.
Stay
To tack; put on the other tack.
To stay ship
Stay
To change; tack; go about; be in stays, as a ship.
Stay
Continuance or a period of time spent in a place; abode for an indefinite time.
I hope you enjoyed your stay in Hawaii.
Stay
(legal) A postponement, especially of an execution or other punishment.
The governor granted a stay of execution.
Stay
(archaic) A stop; a halt; a break or cessation of action, motion, or progress.
Stand at a stay
Stay
A fixed state; fixedness; stability; permanence.
Stay
(nautical) A station or fixed anchorage for vessels.
Stay
Restraint of passion; prudence; moderation; caution; steadiness; sobriety.
Stay
(obsolete) Hindrance; let; check.
Stay
A prop; a support.
Stay
A piece of stiff material, such as plastic or whalebone, used to stiffen a piece of clothing.
Where are the stays for my collar?
Stay
(in the plural) A corset.
Stay
(archaic) A fastening for a garment; a hook; a clasp; anything to hang another thing on.
Stay
(nautical) A strong rope or wire supporting a mast, and leading from one masthead down to some other, or other part of the vessel.
Stay
A guy, rope, or wire supporting or stabilizing a platform, such as a bridge, a pole, such as a tentpole, the mast of a derrick, or other structural element.
The engineer insisted on using stays for the scaffolding.
Stay
The transverse piece in a chain-cable link.
Stay
Steep; ascending.
Stay
(of a roof) Steeply pitched.
Stay
Difficult to negotiate; not easy to access; sheer.
Stay
Stiff; upright; unbending; reserved; haughty; proud.
Stay
Steeply.
Stay
A large, strong rope, employed to support a mast, by being extended from the head of one mast down to some other, or to some part of the vessel. Those which lead forward are called fore-and-aft stays; those which lead to the vessel's side are called backstays. See Illust. of Ship.
Stay
That which serves as a prop; a support.
Trees serve as so many stays for their vines.
Lord Liverpool is the single stay of this ministry.
Stay
A corset stiffened with whalebone or other material, worn by women, and rarely by men.
How the strait stays the slender waist constrain.
Stay
Continuance in a place; abode for a space of time; sojourn; as, you make a short stay in this city.
Make haste, and leave thy business and thy care;No mortal interest can be worth thy stay.
Embrace the hero and his stay implore.
Stay
Cessation of motion or progression; stand; stop.
Made of sphere metal, never to decayUntil his revolution was at stay.
Affairs of state seemed rather to stand at a stay.
Stay
Hindrance; let; check.
They were able to read good authors without any stay, if the book were not false.
Stay
Restraint of passion; moderation; caution; steadiness; sobriety.
The wisdom, stay, and moderation of the king.
With prudent stay he long deferredThe rough contention.
Stay
Strictly, a part in tension to hold the parts together, or stiffen them.
Stay
To stop from motion or falling; to prop; to fix firmly; to hold up; to support.
Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side.
Sallows and reeds . . . for vineyards useful foundTo stay thy vines.
Stay
To support from sinking; to sustain with strength; to satisfy in part or for the time.
He has devoured a whole loaf of bread and butter, and it has not staid his stomach for a minute.
Stay
To bear up under; to endure; to support; to resist successfully.
She will not stay the siege of loving terms,Nor bide the encounter of assailing eyes.
Stay
To hold from proceeding; to withhold; to restrain; to stop; to hold.
Him backward overthrew and down him stayedWith their rude hands and grisly grapplement.
All that may stay their minds from thinking that true which they heartily wish were false.
Stay
To hinder; to delay; to detain; to keep back.
Your ships are stayed at Venice.
This business staid me in London almost a week.
I was willing to stay my reader on an argument that appeared to me new.
Stay
To remain for the purpose of; to wait for.
Stay
To cause to cease; to put an end to.
Stay your strife.
For flattering planets seemed to sayThis child should ills of ages stay.
Stay
To fasten or secure with stays; as, to stay a flat sheet in a steam boiler.
Stay
To tack, as a vessel, so that the other side of the vessel shall be presented to the wind.
Stay
To remain; to continue in a place; to abide fixed for a space of time; to stop; to stand still.
She would command the hasty sun to stay.
Stay, I command you; stay and hear me first.
I stay a little longer, as one staysTo cover up the embers that still burn.
Stay
To continue in a state.
The flames augment, and stayAt their full height, then languish to decay.
Stay
To wait; to attend; to forbear to act.
I 'll tell thee all my whole deviceWhen I am in my coach, which stays for us.
The father can not stay any longer for the fortune.
Stay
To dwell; to tarry; to linger.
I must stay a little on one action.
Stay
To rest; to depend; to rely; to stand; to insist.
I stay here on my bond.
Ye despise this word, and trust in oppression and perverseness, and stay thereon.
Stay
To come to an end; to cease; as, that day the storm stayed.
Here my commission stays.
Stay
To hold out in a race or other contest; as, a horse stays well.
Stay
To change tack, as a ship.
Stay
Continuing or remaining in a place or state;
They had a nice stay in Paris
A lengthy hospital stay
A four-month stay in bankruptcy court
Stay
A judicial order forbidding some action until an event occurs or the order is lifted;
The Supreme Court has the power to stay an injunction pending an appeal to the whole Court
Stay
The state of inactivity following an interruption;
The negotiations were in arrest
Held them in check
During the halt he got some lunch
The momentary stay enabled him to escape the blow
He spent the entire stop in his seat
Stay
(nautical) brace consisting of a heavy rope or wire cable used as a support for a mast or spar
Stay
A thin strip of metal or bone that is used to stiffen a garment (e.g. a corset)
Stay
Stay the same; remain in a certain state;
The dress remained wet after repeated attempts to dry it
Rest assured
Stay alone
He remained unmoved by her tears
The bad weather continued for another week
Stay
Stay put (in a certain place);
We are staying in Detroit; we are not moving to Cincinnati
Stay put in the corner here!
Stick around and you will learn something!
Stay
Dwell;
You can stay with me while you are in town
Stay a bit longer--the day is still young
Stay
Continue in a place, position, or situation;
After graduation, she stayed on in Cambridge as a student adviser
Stay with me, please
Despite student protests, he remained Dean for another year
She continued as deputy mayor for another year
Stay
Remain behind;
I had to stay at home and watch the children
Stay
Stop or halt;
Please stay the bloodshed!
Stay
Stay behind;
The smell stayed in the room
The hostility remained long after they made up
Stay
A trial of endurance;
Ride out the storm
Stay
Stop a judicial process;
The judge stayed the execution order
Stay
Fasten with stays
Stay
Overcome or allay;
Quell my hunger
Common Curiosities
What is the basic use of "stay"?
"Stay" is used to indicate remaining in a place or state.
Can "stay" be used for all subjects?
Yes, except in third-person singular present tense, where "stays" is used.
How is "stays" grammatically different from "stay"?
"Stays" is the third-person singular present form of "stay."
Can "stay" form different tenses?
Yes, it can be modified to various tenses like "staying" or "stayed."
Can "stays" be used interchangeably with "stay" in past tense?
No, "stayed" is the past tense of "stay."
Is "stays" used in commands?
No, "stay" is used in commands, regardless of the subject.
What are some common phrases using "stay"?
Phrases include "stay calm," "stay tuned," and "stay away."
Is "stay" used in idioms?
Yes, it appears in many idiomatic expressions.
In which tense is "stays" used?
Present tense for third-person singular subjects.
What is an example of "stay" in a continuous tense?
"I am staying at hotel in Karachi."
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Written by
Maham Liaqat
Co-written by
Urooj ArifUrooj is a skilled content writer at Ask Difference, known for her exceptional ability to simplify complex topics into engaging and informative content. With a passion for research and a flair for clear, concise writing, she consistently delivers articles that resonate with our diverse audience.
