Breakdown of Na stolu u uredu su tipkovnica, miš i mala biljka.
Questions & Answers about Na stolu u uredu su tipkovnica, miš i mala biljka.
In Croatian, the prepositions na (on) and u (in) use different cases depending on the meaning:
- Static location (where?) → locative case
- na stolu = on the table/desk (where?)
- u uredu = in the office (where?)
- Movement (to/onto/into where?) → accusative case
- na stol = onto the table/desk
- u ured = into the office
Because the sentence describes where something is, not movement, you must use the locative: stolu, uredu.
Both stol (table/desk) and ured (office) are masculine nouns.
For masculine nouns, the locative singular (used after na and u for static location) typically ends in -u:
- stol → (locative) stolu
- ured → (locative) uredu
So na stolu and u uredu are both locative singular forms, matching the meaning “on the table/desk” and “in the office”.
Croatian word order is fairly flexible, especially with the verb biti (to be).
All of these are grammatically correct, with slightly different emphasis:
- Na stolu u uredu su tipkovnica, miš i mala biljka.
→ Focuses first on the location. - Tipkovnica, miš i mala biljka su na stolu u uredu.
→ Focuses first on what is there. - Na stolu u uredu tipkovnica, miš i mala biljka su.
→ Possible, but sounds unusual; putting su at the very end is rare and feels marked.
The version in the sentence is very natural: prepositional phrase (place) + su + subject list.
Because there are three subjects together:
- tipkovnica (keyboard) – singular
- miš (mouse) – singular
- mala biljka (small plant) – singular
Joined by i (and), they form one plural subject.
In Croatian (as in English) the verb agrees with the whole subject group, so you use the 3rd person plural of biti:
- oni su = they are
→ tipkovnica, miš i mala biljka su = a keyboard, a mouse and a small plant are …
Standard grammar says no: with several nouns joined by i, the verb should be plural (su), not singular (je):
- ✅ Tipkovnica, miš i mala biljka su na stolu.
- ❌ Tipkovnica, miš i mala biljka je na stolu.
You may occasionally hear singular je in colloquial speech (especially if the speaker is mentally grouping the items as one set), but it is considered non‑standard. For correct Croatian, use su.
Those three noun phrases are the subject of the sentence – they are the things that exist / are located on the desk in the office.
In Croatian, the subject is in the nominative case:
- Tipkovnica, miš i mala biljka → nominative (subject)
- Na stolu u uredu → prepositional phrases of place (with locative case: stolu, uredu)
Even though they are physically “on the desk”, they are not objects of a preposition, they are what is being talked about, so they stay in nominative.
Croatian does not have articles like a/an or the.
Whether you mean a keyboard or the keyboard is decided by context, not by a separate word:
- Na stolu je tipkovnica.
→ could mean There is a keyboard on the desk or The keyboard is on the desk, depending on what both speakers know.
So tipkovnica, miš i mala biljka can be translated as a/the keyboard, a/the mouse and a/the small plant, depending on the context.
In Croatian, in a simple list joined by i (and), you normally:
- put commas between items,
- but not before the final i.
So:
- tipkovnica, miš i mala biljka = correct
- tipkovnica, miš, i mala biljka = generally considered incorrect in standard Croatian (no “Oxford comma”)
You would only use a comma before i in more complex cases (e.g. joining full clauses, or to avoid heavy ambiguity), not in a basic list of three nouns like this.
In Croatian, adjectives normally come before the noun they describe:
- mala biljka = small plant
- velik stol = big table
- novi miš = new mouse
Biljka mala is not wrong, but it sounds poetic, emphatic, or stylistically marked.
It can be used for special effect (e.g. in poetry or to highlight how small the plant is), but the neutral, everyday order is adjective + noun: mala biljka.
Also, notice that mala matches biljka in:
- gender: feminine
- number: singular
- case: nominative
→ mala (fem. sg. nom.) + biljka (fem. sg. nom.)
Na and u have different main meanings:
- na = on, on top of, on the surface of
- na stolu = on the table/desk
- na stolici = on the chair
- u = in, inside
- u uredu = in the office
- u ladici = in the drawer
So:
- na stolu is correct because objects are on the surface of the table/desk.
- u uredu is correct because everything is inside the office space.
Na uredu would normally be wrong (except in some fixed expressions like “working on the office” in a very specific sense), and u stolu would mean inside the table/desk (e.g. inside a drawer), not on top of it.
Yes, that sentence is also correct:
- U uredu na stolu su tipkovnica, miš i mala biljka.
- Na stolu u uredu su tipkovnica, miš i mala biljka.
Both mean essentially the same thing.
The difference is subtle and mostly about information flow / emphasis:
- Starting with U uredu emphasizes the office first: In the office, on the table there are…
- Starting with Na stolu emphasizes the desk first: On the desk, in the office, there are…
In everyday conversation, both word orders are natural.
Literally, stol means table.
However, in context, stol in an office with a keyboard, mouse and plant will almost always be understood as a desk. More precise terms exist:
- radni stol = work table / desk
- pisaći stol = writing desk
But in everyday speech, people often just say stol, and the context (office, computer, etc.) tells you it’s a desk rather than a dining table.