Learn Hardcore Russian: Металлический стул стоит рядом с большим столом. - The metal chair stands next to the big table.

стул is a masculine, singular noun in the nominative case because it is the subject of the sentence (“the chair” that “stands”). In Russian, adjectives must agree with the noun they modify in gender, number, and case.

Gender: masculine → adjective ending –ий (not –ая or –ое)
Number: singular → no plural ending
Case: nominative (subject) → adjective stays in nominative form металлический

So металлический стул literally means “metallic (masculine-nom-sg) chair (masc-nom-sg).”

Why does большим столом use the instrumental case instead of nominative or another case?

The phrase рядом с (“next to”) requires the instrumental case after the preposition с. In Russian:

большой стол is the base form (masc-nom-sg).
Instrumental singular masculine of большой is большим.
Instrumental singular masculine of стол is столом.

Hence с большим столом = “with a big table,” functioning as “next to the big table.”

What part of speech is стоит, and why don’t we use a word like есть to say “there is a chair”?

стоит is a verb (3rd person singular present) of стоять (“to stand”). In Russian, stationary location is often expressed with verbs of location (стоять, лежать, сидеть, висеть) rather than the existential есть (“there is/are”).

стоит here means “(it) stands” or “is standing,” indicating the chair’s upright position and location.
есть as “there is” also exists but is less natural for describing where something physically stands; you’d say Стул стоит… rather than Есть стул… when specifying location.

What does the construction рядом с mean, and how does it compare to возле or около?

All three can mean “next to / near,” but with subtle differences:

рядом с
- instrumental → “right next to,” often implying minimal distance or touching.
возле
- genitive → colloquial “near,” similar to рядом, but a bit more general.
около
- genitive → “around/about” (with numbers) or “near” (with places), slightly more formal or neutral.

Examples:

стоит рядом с домом = stands right beside the house
сидит возле дома = sits near the house (a bit less emphatic)
играют около дома = play around/nearing the house

When do we use с versus со as a preposition, and why is it с большим столом here?

The preposition с (“with,” “from”) often changes to со for euphony before certain clusters:

Use со before pronouns or words starting with two consonants that are hard to pronounce: со мной, со всеми, со стола (sometimes).
Use с in most other cases.

Here, с большим begins with с б, which is easy to say, so we keep the shorter form с.

Is the word order in Металлический стул стоит рядом с большим столом fixed? Could we say Стул металлический стоит рядом с большим столом?

Neutral Russian word order for noun phrases is Adjective → Noun → Verb → Adverb/Prepositional Phrase. So Металлический стул стоит рядом… is the standard, neutral phrasing. You can reorder elements for emphasis or style:

Стул металлический стоит рядом с большим столом might emphasize стул or sound poetic/colloquial.
Стоит металлический стул рядом с большим столом (verb first) could emphasize the action or introduce a scene.

But in everyday speech and writing, the original order is most common.

How do you pronounce металлический, and where is the stress?

Break it into syllables: ме-тал-ли-чес-кий.
The stress falls on the “ли” syllable: ме-тал-ЛИ-чес-кий.
IPA approximation: [mʲɪtɐˈlʲit͡ɕɪskʲɪj].

How would you ask “Where is the metal chair?” in Russian, and how does this sentence answer that question?

You ask: Где металлический стул? (“Where is the metallic chair?”)
A natural answer: Металлический стул стоит рядом с большим столом.
Literally: “The metal chair stands next to the big table,” which pinpoints its location.