Learn Hardcore Norwegian: Jeg bestiller bord på restauranten i kveld. - I am booking a table at the restaurant tonight.

In Norwegian both bestille (“to order/book”) and reservere (“to reserve”) exist. Bestille is more common in everyday speech when you “book” a table, especially on the phone or online. Reservere is somewhat more formal and closer to “reserve,” but you will hear bestille bord far more often.

Why doesn’t bord have an article like “et bord”?

In the fixed expression bestille bord you normally omit the indefinite article. You’re focusing on the action of booking in general, not specifying “one table.” If you want to emphasize that it’s one table, you can say et bord (see next question).

Could I say “Jeg bestiller et bord på restauranten i kveld”?

Yes, that’s perfectly fine. Adding et simply emphasizes “one table.” But in Norwegian it’s very common to drop the article in phrases like bestille bord, heve hånden, ta buss, etc.

What does på indicate in “på restauranten”? Could I use i instead?

På is used with many public places (restaurant, kino, bibliotek): you “are on/at” them. I is used for enclosed spaces (things you go inside of) like i huset, i butikken. Restaurants can take either in some dialects, but the most idiomatic is på restauranten. I restauranten would sound slightly odd in many regions.

Why is restauranten in the definite form? Could I say “på en restaurant”?

You use the definite form when you have a specific restaurant in mind (e.g. “the one we like”). If you aren’t specifying which, you’d say på en restaurant (“at a restaurant”). With restauranten you’re signalling “the restaurant [we already know].”

Why is the present tense bestiller used for something happening in the future (“tonight”)?

Norwegian commonly uses the simple present to talk about planned or scheduled near-future events. Just like English in “I leave tomorrow,” you don’t need a special future tense.

Can I move i kveld to the beginning of the sentence?

Yes. Time adverbials like i kveld often come first, which triggers the V2 rule (verb-second word order). So you can say:
I kveld bestiller jeg bord på restauranten.

Is i kveld the same as i dag kveld?

Both mean “this evening,” but i kveld is far more common. I dag kveld is correct but slightly more formal or emphatic (like “today evening”). In speech you’ll almost always hear i kveld.