Learn Danish: Kvinden lægger magasinet i stakken. - The woman lays the magazine in the pile.

Lægger is a transitive verb, meaning it requires a direct object: someone is doing the action to something. Here, the woman is actively placing the magazine. Ligger is intransitive and describes a state of rest. If the magazine were already resting in the pile, you would say Magasinet ligger i stakken.

Can I use sætter or stiller instead of lægger in this sentence?

Not naturally. You use lægger for items that are placed flat on their side, like a magazine. You use stiller for things placed upright on a base (like a bottle) and sætter for things that are seated or have a specific proper position (like a chair). Since magazines lie flat in a pile, lægger is the correct choice.

What would this sentence look like in the past tense?

It would be Kvinden lagde magasinet i stakken. It is important to memorize the past tense forms of placement verbs because they differ from their resting counterparts. The past tense of the active verb at lægge is lagde, whereas the past tense of the resting verb at ligge is lå.

Both magasinet and stakken end in a definite suffix, but they are different. Why?