Na stolu su kruh, sir i crne masline.

Because na changes case depending on meaning.

• na + accusative = movement onto something
  
  • Stavljam knjigu na stol. = I’m putting the book onto the table.
• na + locative = location on something
  
  • Knjiga je na stolu. = The book is on the table.

In your sentence, nothing is moving; it describes where the items are. So Croatian uses the locative:

• stol → stolu

So na stolu means on the table.

Stolu is locative singular of stol (table).

The base form is:

• stol = table

After the preposition na when it means location, Croatian uses the locative:

• na stolu = on the table

For a learner, the important pattern is:

• stol → na stolu
• grad → u gradu
• škola → u školi

Su is the 3rd person plural form of biti (to be) in the present tense.

Here the things on the table are:

• kruh
• sir
• crne masline

That whole list is a plural subject, so Croatian uses su:

• Na stolu su kruh, sir i crne masline.

Compare:

• Na stolu je kruh. = There is bread on the table.
• Na stolu su kruh i sir. = There are bread and cheese on the table.

Because short forms like sam, si, je, smo, ste, su are clitics in Croatian. They usually go in the second position of the sentence or clause.

So Croatian often structures the sentence like this:

• Na stolu
  • su
    • rest

That is why you get:

• Na stolu su kruh, sir i crne masline.

This word order is very natural in Croatian. English speakers often expect the verb to come later, but Croatian clitics tend to appear early.

Yes, that is also grammatical.

• Kruh, sir i crne masline su na stolu.

This version puts more focus on what the items are. The original:

• Na stolu su kruh, sir i crne masline.

puts more focus on where they are.

Both are correct, but the original sounds very natural when introducing what is on the table.

Because Croatian has no articles.

English says:

• the bread
• a table

Croatian usually just says:

• kruh
• stol

Whether the meaning is a, the, or sometimes just a general noun is understood from context.

So:

• Na stolu su kruh, sir i crne masline.

can mean something like:

• There is bread, cheese, and black olives on the table
• or The bread, cheese, and black olives are on the table

depending on context.

Because adjectives in Croatian must agree with the noun in:

• gender
• number
• case

The noun is:

• masline = olives

Its singular is:

• maslina = olive

Maslina is feminine, and masline here is plural. Since the phrase is the subject of the sentence, it is in the nominative plural.

So the adjective crn (black) must match:

• feminine plural nominative → crne

Therefore:

• crne masline = black olives

Masline is nominative plural of maslina.

• singular: maslina = olive
• plural: masline = olives

In this sentence, crne masline is one part of the subject list, so nominative is the expected case.

Here are the noun genders:

• stol = masculine
• kruh = masculine
• sir = masculine
• maslina = feminine

This matters because Croatian uses gender in adjective agreement and sometimes in past tense forms and pronouns.

For example:

• crna maslina = a black olive
• crne masline = black olives

Because the subject is not just one noun; it is a list of several things:

• bread
• cheese
• black olives

Even though kruh and sir are singular forms, together with crne masline they make a compound subject, so the verb is plural:

• su

This is similar to English:

• Bread, cheese, and olives are on the table.

This is standard list punctuation.

In Croatian, just like in normal English list punctuation:

• items in a series are separated by commas
• usually there is no comma before i (and)

So:

• kruh, sir i crne masline

means:

• bread, cheese and black olives

A final comma before i is generally not used in standard Croatian.

It works much like English bread here.

Kruh can refer to bread as a food substance or to a loaf of bread, depending on context.

In this sentence:

• Na stolu su kruh, sir i crne masline

it most naturally means bread, cheese, and black olives as food items on the table.

So yes, it behaves a lot like English food nouns in this kind of context.

Yes, that is a very close literal translation.

A more natural English translation is often:

• There is bread, cheese, and black olives on the table.
• or On the table there are bread, cheese, and black olives.

Croatian often uses word order more flexibly than English, so the literal structure can sound a bit formal or unusual in English even though it is perfectly normal in Croatian.

A rough pronunciation guide is:

• Na stolu su kruh, sir i crne masline.
• nah STOH-loo soo krooh, seer ee TSR-neh mahs-LEE-neh

A few helpful notes:

• r in Croatian is rolled or tapped
• h is clearly pronounced, unlike in many English words
• cr in crne can feel tricky for English speakers; the r is pronounced strongly
• stress can vary by dialect, but the above is a useful learner-friendly approximation

Here are the basic dictionary forms:

• na = on
• stol = table
• biti = to be
• kruh = bread
• sir = cheese
• i = and
• crn = black
• maslina = olive

In the sentence, some of these appear in changed forms:

• stol → stolu
• biti → su
• crn → crne
• maslina → masline

Probably these three:

1. Prepositions control case

   • na stolu = na + locative for location

2. Croatian has no articles

   • no separate words for a/an/the

3. Short verb forms like su often go in second position

   • Na stolu su ...

If you remember those three ideas, this sentence becomes much easier to understand.