å legge - legger - la - har lagt

å ligge - ligger - lå - har ligget

Coördinately in English (since these are oft-confused words):

to lay - lays - laid - has laid

to lie - lies - lay - has lain

shouldn't the translation be: "He was laying (something) on the bed"? Because "He was lying in the bed" sounds like he was already lying in the bed, so there should be "han la i sengen", because legge - la means that someone or something is lying on the bed. And as far as i remember ligge - lå is an action in action, it means that he was doing an action - laying something or someone on the bed.