Кафе находится наверху.

In Russian, the present-tense verb to be is usually not stated.

So instead of saying something like The café is upstairs with a separate word for is, Russian often just says:

Кафе наверху.

In your sentence, though, Russian uses находится, which means is located or is situated. That makes the sentence a little more explicit:

Кафе находится наверху. = The café is located upstairs.

So Russian is not missing a word here; it is simply using a different structure from English.

Находится means is located, is situated, or sometimes is found.

It is the 3rd person singular present tense form of находиться.

So:

• кафе находится = the café is located

This verb is very common when talking about location:

• Банк находится рядом. = The bank is nearby.
• Музей находится в центре. = The museum is in the center.

Compared with just Кафе наверху, Кафе находится наверху sounds a bit more formal or neutral.

Кафе is one of those Russian nouns that are indeclinable, meaning its form usually stays the same in different cases.

It is a borrowed word, and Russian keeps it unchanged:

• кафе
• в кафе
• из кафе
• рядом с кафе

In this sentence, кафе is the subject, so it is in the nominative case, but the form would still be кафе anyway.

Also, кафе is usually treated as neuter singular here, which is why the verb is singular:

• Кафе находится...

Наверху is an adverb.

It means things like:

• upstairs
• up above
• at the top

Because it is an adverb, it does not require a noun after it in this sentence and it does not change form.

So the structure is:

• Кафе = subject
• находится = verb
• наверху = adverb of location

As a general rule, наверху written as one word is the normal adverb meaning upstairs / above / at the top.

• Кафе находится наверху.

The two-word version на верху is much less common and usually has a more literal noun-based meaning, something like on the top part/surface in a specific context.

For most learners, the important thing is:

• наверху = the normal adverb you want here

Yes, absolutely.

Кафе наверху is a perfectly natural sentence and often sounds more conversational.

Compare:

• Кафе наверху. = The café is upstairs.
• Кафе находится наверху. = The café is located upstairs.

The version with находится can sound a little more formal, descriptive, or matter-of-fact. Both are correct.

Yes. Russian word order is more flexible than English word order.

The neutral order here is:

• Кафе находится наверху.

But you could also say:

• Наверху находится кафе.

This version puts more emphasis on наверху, as if answering What is upstairs?

So the word order can shift depending on what you want to emphasize, even though the basic meaning stays the same.

Yes, находится comes from the verb находиться, which ends in -ся.

For learners, the most useful thing is to treat находиться as a whole dictionary verb meaning:

• to be located
• to be situated

The -ся ending does not mean the café is somehow doing the action to itself in any simple English sense. In many Russian verbs, -ся is just part of the verb’s normal form and meaning.

So it is best to learn:

• находиться = to be located
• находится = is located

The stress is:

• кафе́
• нахо́дится
• наверху́

So the sentence is pronounced approximately like:

ka-FYE na-KHO-deet-sya na-vyer-KHOO

A few helpful notes:

• кафе́ has stress on the last syllable.
• нахо́дится has stress on хо.
• наверху́ has stress on the last syllable.
• The х sound is like a throaty kh, not like English h.

Not always. Наверху is a broad word meaning upstairs, above, or at the top, depending on context.

So it can refer to:

• a higher floor in a building
• a place physically above something else
• the top part of something

In your sentence, the most natural reading is upstairs or on the upper level.

If you wanted to be more specific, Russian could also say something like:

• Кафе на втором этаже. = The café is on the second floor.

So наверху gives a general idea of above/upstairs, not necessarily an exact floor number.