Ribež je u ladici pokraj cjedila.

Because u here means in in the sense of location, so it takes the locative case.

• Base form: ladica = drawer
• Locative singular: ladici

So:

• u ladici = in the drawer

A very useful rule is:

• u + locative = being in a place
• u + accusative = movement into a place

For example:

• Ribež je u ladici. = The grater is in the drawer.
• Stavljam ribež u ladicu. = I am putting the grater into the drawer.

Because the preposition pokraj takes the genitive case.

• Base form: cjedilo = colander / strainer
• Genitive singular: cjedila

So:

• pokraj cjedila = next to / beside the colander

This is a common pattern in Croatian: many prepositions require a specific case, and the noun has to change form to match it.

Other examples with pokraj:

• pokraj stola = beside the table
• pokraj vrata = beside the door

Je is the 3rd person singular present tense of the verb biti (to be).

So in this sentence:

• Ribež je u ladici pokraj cjedila.
• literally: The grater is in the drawer beside the colander.

Croatian often uses je where English uses is.

• on je = he is
• ona je = she is
• ribež je = the grater is

In a normal full sentence like this, je is expected.

Ribež is in the nominative singular, because it is the subject of the sentence.

The sentence is about the grater, and the verb je agrees with that singular subject.

• ribež = grater
• It is a masculine noun
• Its basic dictionary form is already ribež

So the structure is:

• Ribež = subject
• je = is
• u ladici pokraj cjedila = location

No, Croatian word order is fairly flexible. The sentence you have is natural, but other orders are also possible depending on emphasis.

For example:

• Ribež je u ladici pokraj cjedila.
• U ladici pokraj cjedila je ribež.

Both are possible, but they feel slightly different:

• starting with Ribež focuses on what you are talking about
• starting with U ladici... focuses first on where

Because Croatian uses cases, the endings help show the role of each word, so word order does not have to be as rigid as in English.

Because Croatian does not have articles like English a/an and the.

So:

• ribež can mean a grater or the grater
• ladica can mean a drawer or the drawer
• cjedilo can mean a colander or the colander

Which meaning is intended depends on context.

That is very normal in Croatian, and learners need to get used to understanding definiteness without articles.

Yes. Pored cjedila is also natural and often very common in everyday speech.

So these are both fine:

• Ribež je u ladici pokraj cjedila.
• Ribež je u ladici pored cjedila.

Both mean roughly The grater is in the drawer next to the colander.

A learner should know that Croatian often has more than one natural way to say beside / next to:

• pokraj
• pored
• sometimes kraj

The exact feel can vary a little by region or style, but pored and pokraj are both good choices here.

Because u is used for being inside something, while na is often used for being on a surface or at certain kinds of places.

Here the grater is in the drawer, so Croatian uses:

• u ladici = in the drawer

Compare:

• na stolu = on the table
• u kutiji = in the box
• na polici = on the shelf

So the choice between u and na depends on the type of location.

They are:

• ribež — masculine
• ladica — feminine
• cjedilo — neuter

This matters because gender affects declension patterns and agreement in Croatian.

You can often guess gender from the ending:

• nouns ending in -a are often feminine: ladica
• nouns ending in -o or -e are often neuter: cjedilo
• nouns ending in a consonant are often masculine: ribež

This is not a perfect rule, but it works very often.

You know from both the case and the meaning.

Here:

• ladici is locative singular
• that tells you it means in the drawer as a location

If it were movement into the drawer, Croatian would use the accusative:

• u ladicu = into the drawer

So compare:

• Ribež je u ladici. = The grater is in the drawer.
• Stavljam ribež u ladicu. = I am putting the grater into the drawer.

This is a very important pattern in Croatian.

Cjedilo is a neuter noun, and after pokraj it has to go into the genitive singular.

The change is:

• nominative singular: cjedilo
• genitive singular: cjedila

This is a regular pattern for many neuter nouns ending in -o:

• selo → sela
• more → mora
• cjedilo → cjedila

So once you know that pokraj requires genitive, cjedila makes sense as the correct form.