What is the difference between live and lives?

The word live can be a verb or an adjective.

Live as a verb

1. As a verb it means that someone is not dead but has life e.g. ‘I do not want to die but to live happily’.

2. It can also mean to be staying somewhere or to reside somewhere e.g.  I was born in London but now live in New York’.

Live as an adjective.

Live as an adjective has two meanings.

However the pronunciation is different when it is an adjective and the ‘i’ in it sounds like the word ‘lie’ or ‘light’.

1. One meaning is something that is happening now, especially for a program on television, radio or the internet.

‘The soccer match will be shown live tonight at 8pm’

You will be watching the soccer match as it happens and not a recorded film of the soccer match.

‘This is Andrew speaking to you live from Sydney for EMS radio station!’

2. It can also mean something is not dead.

‘There were live animals in the zoo’.

The word ‘lives’.

The word ‘lives’ as a noun is the plural of ‘life’.

‘The first book is about the life of Dickens but the second book is about the lives of many different writers.’