Learn Hardcore Russian: Маленький столик стоит рядом с окном.

Because it’s the subject of the sentence—the thing that “stands.” In Russian, subjects are in the nominative. Both маленький (adjective) and столик (noun) appear in masculine singular nominative to agree in gender, number, and case.

How does the adjective маленький agree with the noun столик?

Russian adjectives change endings to match the gender, number, and case of the noun they modify. Here, столик is masculine, singular, nominative. The matching adjective form is маленький: • Gender: masculine (-ий ending)
• Number: singular
• Case: nominative

Why is стоит used here, and how is it different from лежит or сидит?

These are verbs of static position:
• стоит = “stands” (vertical orientation)
• лежит = “lies” (horizontal orientation)
• сидит = “sits” (usually for people/animals)
Since a table is upright on its legs, стоит is the natural choice.

Why does рядом с take the instrumental case, resulting in окном?

The preposition с when used in the phrase рядом с (“next to”) always requires the following noun in the instrumental case. Окно in instrumental singular becomes окном, indicating proximity.

Can I say У окна стоит маленький столик instead of рядом с окном?

Yes. У + genitive (here у окна) also means “by/next to the window.” So У окна стоит маленький столик is perfectly natural and equivalent.

What’s the difference between рядом с окном and возле окна?

Both mean “next to/by the window,” but:
• рядом с + instrumental often feels slightly more precise (“right next to”).
• возле + genitive is a bit more general (“near/by”).
In everyday speech they’re largely interchangeable.

Since Russian has no articles, how do I know if столик is “a table” or “the table”?

Russian doesn’t use articles. Context and intonation determine definiteness. In isolation, маленький столик can be either “a small table” or “the small table,” depending on what the speaker and listener already know.