Han bestiller biffen.

Bestille is the infinitive form, meaning to order.

Bestiller is the present tense form, meaning orders or is ordering.

A very common pattern in Bokmål is:

• å bestille = to order
• bestiller = order/orders/is ordering

So in Han bestiller biffen, the verb has to be in the present tense because it is a complete sentence.

Because Norwegian usually shows the by adding an ending to the noun.

• en biff = a steak
• biffen = the steak

So -en is the definite ending here.

This is different from English, where you put the before the noun. In Norwegian, the definiteness is often attached directly to the noun itself.

In Norwegian, the definite article is often a suffix on the noun rather than a separate word before it.

So:

• English: the steak
• Norwegian: biffen

That is why Han bestiller biffen does not need a separate word like the.

There is an important difference:

• Han bestiller biff = He orders steak / He is ordering steak in a general sense
• Han bestiller biffen = He orders the steak, a specific steak

A learner will most often compare:

• Han bestiller en biff = He orders a steak
• Han bestiller biffen = He orders the steak

So biffen sounds specific and definite.

It can mean both, depending on context.

Norwegian present tense often covers both:

• He orders
• He is ordering

So Han bestiller biffen could mean either:

• a simple present fact, or
• something happening right now

If you want to make the ongoing sense clearer, Norwegian can also use other constructions, but the plain present tense is very common.

Yes. Han means he and is the third-person singular masculine subject pronoun.

Examples:

• Han spiser. = He eats.
• Han bestiller biffen. = He orders the steak.

It is used much like English he when referring to a male person.

The word order is:

Subject + Verb + Object

• Han = subject
• bestiller = verb
• biffen = object

So the sentence structure is very similar to English:

• He orders the steak

This makes it a very straightforward Norwegian sentence.

Yes, biff is normally treated as a masculine noun in Bokmål.

That is why you commonly get:

• en biff = a steak
• biffen = the steak

In Bokmål, many nouns take en in the indefinite singular and -en in the definite singular.

A simple learner-friendly guide would be:

• bestiller ≈ beh-STIL-er
• biffen ≈ BIFF-en

A few helpful points:

• bestiller has the stress on -stil-
• biff sounds close to English beef, but shorter and with an i sound like in bit
• the final -r in Norwegian is often lighter than in many English accents

The whole sentence is roughly: han beh-STIL-er BIFF-en

Yes. Bestille is a very useful verb and can mean several related things, depending on context:

• order food or goods
• book a ticket, room, or table
• reserve something

For example:

• bestille mat = order food
• bestille billetter = book tickets
• bestille bord = reserve a table

So in this sentence, the restaurant meaning is clear from biffen.

Yes, absolutely.

That would mean He orders a steak.

Compare:

• Han bestiller en biff. = He orders a steak.
• Han bestiller biffen. = He orders the steak.

So the choice between en biff and biffen depends on whether the steak is indefinite or definite.

Yes, Han bestiller biffen is standard Bokmål.

In Nynorsk, you would more naturally expect:

• Han bestiller biffen or possibly another wording depending on style, but the main structure is very similar.

For a beginner, the key point is that this sentence is perfectly normal Bokmål, and much of it is also understandable across both written standards.

You would usually put the verb before the subject:

• Bestiller han biffen? = Is he ordering the steak? / Does he order the steak?

This shows a very common Norwegian pattern:

• statement: Han bestiller biffen.
• yes/no question: Bestiller han biffen?

So Norwegian often forms questions by changing the word order rather than adding a word like do.