1. He told a lie to me yesterday.

1-2. He told one lie to me yesterday.
2. He told lies to me yesterday.
3. He tells lies to me.
[Does #1 mean #2? Or is 'a like' in generic use? What about #2 or #3? Is 'lies' used as a generic noun? Or just several lies?]

1 and 2 mean the same thing, yes. The plural means more than one lie, whether it was only yesterday (#2) or repeatedly over time (#3).

In sentence #1, "a lie" is used as a generic noun. It means that he told a single lie to you yesterday. So, #1 does not mean the same as #2.

In sentence #2, "one lie" is also used as a generic noun, but the difference is that #2 specifies the number of lies as one. It means that he told one lie to you yesterday.
In sentence #3, "lies" is used as a plural noun. It means that he tells multiple lies to you. This sentence implies that he has a habit of telling lies to you repeatedly or on an ongoing basis.
So, to summarize:
- Sentence #1: He told a single lie to you yesterday.
- Sentence #2: He told one lie to you yesterday.
- Sentence #3: He tells multiple lies to you.