W raporcie jest mała tabela z cenami, a obok niej prosty wykres.

Polish has no articles, so there is no direct equivalent of English a or the in sentences like this.

So:

• mała tabela can mean a small table
• in another context it could also mean the small table

The exact meaning depends on context, not on an article. In this sentence, English naturally uses a: a small table and a simple chart.

Because the preposition w means in, and when it describes a location, it takes the locative case.

The noun raport changes like this:

• nominative: raport
• locative: raporcie

So:

• w raporcie = in the report

This is a very common pattern in Polish: after certain prepositions, the noun changes form.

Because adjectives in Polish must agree with the noun in:

• gender
• number
• case

Tabela is:

• feminine
• singular
• here, nominative

So the adjective must also be feminine singular nominative:

• mała tabela = small table

Compare:

• mały wykres = small chart/graph (masculine)
• mała tabela = small table (feminine)
• małe okno = small window (neuter)

It is in the nominative case.

In this kind of sentence, Polish often uses:

• [place] + jest/są + [thing in nominative]

So:

• W raporcie jest mała tabela = There is a small table in the report

Even though English uses there is, Polish does not need a separate word like there here. The noun itself stays in the nominative:

• tabela
• wykres

Because the preposition z can mean with, and in that meaning it takes the instrumental case.

The noun cena = price Its instrumental plural form is cenami.

So:

• z cenami = with prices

Compare:

• kawa z mlekiem = coffee with milk
• tabela z cenami = table with prices

Important: z does not always take the same case. For example:

• z raportu = from the report

There, z means from, so it takes the genitive, not the instrumental.

Because the phrase means with prices, not with a price.

A table in a report usually contains multiple prices, so Polish uses the plural noun:

• ceny = prices
• cenami = with prices

If you said z ceną, that would mean with a price, singular, which would suggest just one price.

Both a and i can often be translated as and, but they are not used in exactly the same way.

Here, a is natural because it links two parallel pieces of information:

• there is a small table with prices,
• and next to it, a simple chart

It has a slight sense of juxtaposition: one thing here, another thing beside it.

Very roughly:

• i = plain and
• a = and / while / and on the other hand

In this sentence, a sounds very natural and idiomatic.

Obok takes the genitive case, so the pronoun after it must also be in a genitive form.

The pronoun refers to tabela, which is feminine, so we get:

• obok niej = next to it / beside it

Here niej is the pronoun form used after a preposition.

A useful thing to remember: after many prepositions, Polish pronouns often gain an extra n:

• do niej = to her / to it
• przy nim = next to him / it
• obok nich = next to them

So niej is not random; it is the normal prepositional form.

Because after a preposition like obok, Polish normally uses the strong prepositional form of the pronoun:

• niej, not jej

So:

• correct: obok niej
• not correct here: obok jej

This is something English speakers often need to get used to, because Polish pronouns have different forms depending on grammar and whether a preposition is present.

Yes — you can think of it as understood.

The full version could be:

• W raporcie jest mała tabela z cenami, a obok niej jest prosty wykres.

But Polish often leaves out a repeated verb when it is obvious from context. So the shorter version sounds natural:

• ...a obok niej prosty wykres.

English does something similar sometimes, but Polish uses this kind of omission quite freely.

Because the sentence is really structured as two linked parts:

• W raporcie jest mała tabela z cenami
• a obok niej [jest] prosty wykres

In the first part, the subject is singular:

• mała tabela

In the second part, the verb jest is omitted but understood, and its subject is also singular:

• prosty wykres

So this is not one plural subject with one verb. That is why jest is fine.

If you combined both things into a single plural idea, you would use są:

• W raporcie są mała tabela z cenami i prosty wykres.

But the original version is smoother and more natural stylistically.

For the same reason as mała tabela: the adjective has to agree with the noun.

Wykres is:

• masculine
• singular
• nominative

So the adjective is also masculine singular nominative:

• prosty wykres = simple chart/graph

Compare:

• prosty wykres = masculine
• prosta tabela = feminine
• proste zadanie = neuter

Yes. Polish word order is much more flexible than English word order.

The original order:

• W raporcie jest mała tabela z cenami, a obok niej prosty wykres.

sounds natural because it starts with the location/topic:

• In the report...

and then tells you what is there.

You could rearrange it, for example:

• Mała tabela z cenami jest w raporcie, a obok niej prosty wykres.

But that changes the emphasis and sounds less neutral in this context.

So the original word order is a very natural way to describe what appears in a document.

It refers to tabela.

You can tell because niej is feminine, and:

• tabela is feminine
• raport is masculine

So:

• obok niej = next to it, where it = the table

That is also what makes sense logically: the chart is next to the table, not next to the report itself.