Он заказал пиво.

He ordered beer.

Breakdown of Он заказал пиво.

• он: he
• заказать: to order
• пиво: beer

Questions & Answers about Он заказал пиво.

Why is it заказал and not заказывал?

Заказал is the perfective past form, so it means he ordered the beer as a completed action.

• Он заказал пиво. = He ordered a beer / He placed the order.
• Он заказывал пиво. = He was ordering beer / He used to order beer / He ordered beer at some point (with focus less on completion and more on the process or fact)

In this sentence, the speaker is presenting the action as a single completed event, so заказал is the natural choice.

Why does заказал end in -л?

In Russian, the past tense is usually formed with -л plus gender/number endings.

For the verb заказать:

• masculine: заказал
• feminine: заказала
• neuter: заказало
• plural: заказали

Because он means he, the masculine form заказал is used.

Why is there no word for a in a beer?