Breakdown of Мы не заказали столик, и нам пришлось ждать, пока освободится место у окна.
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Questions & Answers about Мы не заказали столик, и нам пришлось ждать, пока освободится место у окна.
Why is it не заказали (perfective) and not не заказывали (imperfective)?
Не заказали (perfective past) treats the reservation as a single, completed action that didn’t happen: We didn’t make a reservation (at all).
Не заказывали (imperfective past) would sound more like “we weren’t reserving / we didn’t use to reserve / we didn’t reserve (as a general practice or process),” and it can feel less “one-time, specific situation” unless context supports it.
What does столик mean exactly, and why not стол?
Столик is a common diminutive for стол and in restaurant context it often simply means a (small) table / a table for guests. It’s very natural when talking about booking: заказать столик is a set phrase meaning to reserve a table. Стол is possible, but столик sounds more idiomatic and conversational.
Why is столик in the accusative case here?
Because заказать takes a direct object (“to order/reserve what?”), so столик is in the accusative:
(заказать) столик = “reserve a table.”
For an inanimate masculine noun like столик, accusative singular is the same form as nominative singular.
How does нам пришлось work grammatically?