Ćumur je pored roštilja.

Je is the 3rd person singular present tense of biti (to be).

So:

• ja sam = I am
• ti si = you are
• on / ona / ono je = he / she / it is

In Ćumur je pored roštilja, je means is.

Because the preposition pored requires the genitive case.

So the base form is:

• roštilj = grill / barbecue

But after pored (beside / next to / by), it changes to the genitive:

• pored roštilja = beside the grill

This is a very common thing in Serbian: many prepositions require a specific case.

Ćumur is in the nominative case because it is the subject of the sentence — the thing being talked about.

So in this sentence:

• Ćumur = the subject
• je = is
• pored roštilja = beside the grill

A simple way to think of it is: What is beside the grill?
Answer: Ćumur.

That is why ćumur stays in its basic dictionary form here.

Pored usually means:

• beside
• next to
• by

So pored roštilja means beside the grill or next to the grill.

It is a preposition used with the genitive case.

You may also see pored in other contexts with a slightly broader meaning, such as alongside or even in addition to, depending on the sentence, but here it is clearly about physical location.

Serbian does not normally use articles like English the and a/an.

So:

• ćumur can mean charcoal or the charcoal, depending on context
• roštilja can mean of the grill / of a grill, depending on context

English forces you to choose an article, but Serbian usually leaves that unstated unless context makes it clear.

The letter ć is a special Serbian sound. It is a soft consonant, somewhat similar to the t sound in British English tune for some speakers, or a very soft ch/t-like sound.

A rough pronunciation guide:

• Ćumur ≈ CHOO-moor, but with a softer first sound than normal English ch
• roštilja has š, which sounds like English sh

Important letters here:

• ć = soft ć sound
• š = sh
• j = English y

So je sounds like ye.

Yes, ćumur is a common word for charcoal, especially in everyday speech.

A learner may also come across ugalj, which usually means coal. In some contexts people may use related words differently depending on region or situation, but:

• ćumur = charcoal
• ugalj = coal

In a barbecue context, ćumur is very natural.

It can mean different but related things depending on context.

Roštilj can refer to:

• the grill / barbecue device
• grilled food
• sometimes the general idea of barbecue

In this sentence, because of pored (beside / next to), it clearly means the grill itself, since something physical is located next to it.

No, Serbian word order is more flexible than English word order.

The neutral, natural order here is:

• Ćumur je pored roštilja.

But other orders are possible for emphasis, for example:

• Pored roštilja je ćumur. = Beside the grill is the charcoal.
• Ćumur pored roštilja je. = possible, but much less neutral and often stylistically marked

So the given sentence is the most straightforward and standard way to say it.

This is related to a very important Serbian pattern: short unstressed words, called clitics, tend to go near the second position in the sentence or clause.

The verb form je is one of those clitics.

So in:

• Ćumur je pored roštilja.

the clitic je comes right after the first element, Ćumur.

You will notice this a lot in Serbian with words like:

• je
• sam
• si
• ga
• se
• mi

This is a key sentence-pattern difference from English.

Yes. Serbian uses both Latin and Cyrillic scripts.

In Cyrillic, the sentence is:

• Ћумур је поред роштиља.

Letter by letter:

• Ć = Ћ
• š = ш
• j = ј
• lj = љ

Both scripts are correct in Serbian.

The dictionary form is roštilj.

Here is the relationship:

• roštilj = nominative singular
• roštilja = genitive singular

So if you look it up in a dictionary, you would search for roštilj, not roštilja.

Sometimes, but it would not mean exactly the same thing.

• pored roštilja = beside / next to the grill
• kod roštilja = at the grill / near the grill

Pored is more specifically about being right beside something.
Kod is often more general and can mean at or by a place or person.

So if you want the exact idea of right next to the grill, pored roštilja is the better choice.