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My Russian teacher gave me an exercise in which I have to fill in a missing word. The only word available is заказать but it makes the sentence:
Хорошо, тогда я заказать на первое уху, а на второе пельмени
I think it should be "я закажу". But searching for "я заказать" reveals a lot of sentences which start Могу ли я заказать... so perhaps this is just a shortened/colloquial version?
Is this a valid sentence one could say, or is there a mistake in the exercise?
Могу ли я заказать... means "May I order ..." Note, that both in English and in Russian, "I" (я) refers to "may" (могу), not to "order" (заказать), the latter being in the infinitive in both languages, because if you change "I" to "he", the verb "order" doesn't get the -s suffix: "May he order ...", and not "*May he orders ...". That's why you first variant, я закажу is correct, the predicate verb must agree in number and person with the subject (it's я in your exercise), the variant with "заказать" is definitely wrong.
Хорошо, тогда я (заказать) закажу на первое уху, а на второе пельмени.
The sentence is valid. It sounds like "Well, then I will order fish soup for the first course (to start with) and meat dumplings for the main course." As if you have just chosen what to order and you are sure they have them. It can be the continuation of the previous discussion or doubts what to choose. The verb "заказать " agrees with the subject.I think you didn't understand the task or it wasn't formulated properly. You had to fill in the proper form of the verb.
Могу я заказать(=Can I order...) на первое уху, а на второе пельмени?
The sentence is also possible. It is a polite form using a modal verb plus infinitive. The verb "мочь" agrees with the subject.
Я бы хотел заказать...(I'd ike to order)
You can use any of them and some more to make an order.
You could use that word in a very different way, but in a proper way; otherwise, your sentence looks weird. For example, you could say:
Я бы хотел заказать .... - this means you are ordering right now Я хотел заказать - this sentence could also be used in a sentence in a present and/or past form, but again it depends on your sentence.
