Learn Russian: Я хотел бы заказать столик на сегодня.

Я хотел бы заказать столик на сегодня.

I would like to order a table for today.

Breakdown of Я хотел бы заказать столик на сегодня.

хотеть

to want

на

on, at / by (transport) / to (a place) / to (in answer to)

сегодня

today

Questions & Answers about Я хотел бы заказать столик на сегодня.

Why use хотел бы instead of хочу?

Using хотел бы (I would like) is a much more polite way to make a request than хочу (I want). To form this polite request, use the past tense of the verb, which is the masculine хотел here, and add the particle бы. If a woman were speaking, she would say я хотела бы.

Why is the word столик used instead of just стол?

The word столик is a softer, diminutive form of стол (table). When talking about reserving a table at a restaurant or cafe, Russian speakers almost always use столик.

Why do we need the preposition на before сегодня?

The phrase на сегодня means the reservation is scheduled for today. If you dropped the на and just said заказать сегодня, it would mean that you are performing the action of making the reservation today, but the table itself could be for next month!

What case is столик in here?

It is in the accusative case because it is the direct object of the verb заказать (to reserve). Because столик is a masculine inanimate noun, meaning it is not a living person or animal, its accusative form looks exactly the same as its dictionary form.