Izletište je blizu reke.

Izletište is a place people go for an outing, picnic, or short trip in nature. Depending on context, it can be translated as picnic area, excursion site, outing spot, or recreational area.

It comes from izlet, meaning trip, outing, or excursion.

Izletište is a neuter noun.

A quick clue is the ending -e, which is very common for neuter nouns in Serbian.

In this sentence, izletište is in the nominative singular because it is the subject of the sentence.

Je is the 3rd person singular present tense of the verb biti, meaning to be.

So here:

• izletište = the outing spot / picnic area
• je = is
• blizu reke = near the river

So je simply means is.

Because blizu normally goes with the genitive case in Serbian.

So after blizu you do not use the basic dictionary form reka. You use the genitive form:

• reka = river
• reke = of the river / near the river

That is why the sentence says blizu reke.

Reke is the genitive singular of reka.

The noun reka is feminine, and many feminine nouns ending in -a form the genitive singular by changing -a to -e:

• žena → žene
• škola → škole
• reka → reke

So reke is the correct form after blizu.

It is often described as an adverb, but in sentences like this it behaves a lot like a preposition-like word because it commonly takes a noun in the genitive.

So for a learner, the most useful thing to remember is:

• blizu + genitive

Examples:

• blizu reke = near the river
• blizu škole = near the school
• blizu grada = near the city

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

The neutral order here is:

• Izletište je blizu reke.

But you could also say:

• Blizu reke je izletište.

That version puts more focus on blizu reke.

Even though Serbian allows flexibility, not every order sounds equally natural in every context. The original sentence is a very normal, straightforward way to say it.

Because Serbian does not have articles like English a and the.

So izletište can mean:

• an outing spot
• the outing spot

and reke can mean:

• a river in some contexts
• the river in others

The exact meaning depends on context, not on an article.

Yes, depending on the standard variety.

Serbian has different pronunciation/standard variants, especially Ekavian and Ijekavian:

• reka / reke = Ekavian
• rijeka / rijeke = Ijekavian

So the sentence could also appear as:

• Izletište je blizu rijeke.

Both are correct; the difference is regional/standard, not grammatical.

Yes. Serbian uses both Latin and Cyrillic scripts.

In Cyrillic, the sentence is:

Излетиште је близу реке.

The meaning and grammar stay exactly the same.

A rough English-friendly pronunciation would be:

eez-LEH-teesh-teh

More roughly word by word:

• Izletište → eez-LEH-teesh-teh
• je → yeh
• blizu → BLEE-zoo
• reke → REH-keh

A few useful pronunciation notes:

• j in Serbian sounds like English y
• š sounds like English sh
• Serbian pronunciation is generally quite phonetic, so words are usually pronounced close to how they are written

Sometimes yes, but the meaning may change slightly.

For example:

• blizu reke = near the river
• pored reke = by the river / next to the river
• kod reke = at the river / near the river, depending on context

So blizu is a good general word for near, but it does not always mean exactly the same thing as other location words.