Kobasice su pored ćevapa.

Kobasice is the nominative plural form of kobasica (sausage).

In this sentence, it is the subject, so nominative is the expected case.

• singular: kobasica
• plural: kobasice

So kobasice means sausages.

Su is the 3rd person plural present form of the verb biti (to be).

Because the subject kobasice is plural, Serbian uses su = are.

Compare:

• kobasica je = the sausage is
• kobasice su = the sausages are

Pored means next to, beside, or by.

It shows position or location relative to something else.

So in this sentence, pored tells us where the sausages are located: they are next to the ćevapi.

Because the preposition pored normally requires the genitive case.

The basic plural form is:

• ćevapi = nominative plural

But after pored, you need the genitive plural:

• ćevapa = genitive plural

So:

• ćevapi = the ćevapi as a subject
• pored ćevapa = next to the ćevapi

This is one of the most important things to notice in the sentence: prepositions in Serbian often control a specific case.

They are in different cases because they do different jobs in the sentence.

• kobasice = nominative plural
  It is the subject.

• ćevapa = genitive plural
  It comes after the preposition pored, which takes the genitive.

So the structure is basically:

• subject
  • verb
    • prepositional phrase

That gives:

• Kobasice
  • su
    • pored ćevapa

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

So Serbian often leaves that idea to be understood from context.

For example:

• kobasica can mean a sausage or the sausage
• kobasice can mean sausages or the sausages

The exact meaning depends on the situation, not on an article.

The sentence as written is natural and neutral:

• Kobasice su pored ćevapa.

But Serbian word order is more flexible than English, because cases show the grammatical roles.

You could also say:

• Pored ćevapa su kobasice.

This still means the same thing, but the emphasis shifts a little. It may sound more like Next to the ćevapi are the sausages.

So yes, the word order can change, but the original version is a very normal basic sentence.

The dictionary form is ćevap.

Its common plural is:

• ćevapi = nominative plural

And the form in the sentence is:

• ćevapa = genitive plural

So if you look it up in a dictionary, you would usually search for ćevap.

The letter ć is pronounced as a soft sound, somewhat like a very soft ch sound, but there is no perfect English equivalent.

A rough guide:

• č is harder, closer to ch in chop
• ć is softer

So ćevap is not pronounced the same way as a word with č would be.

Learners often confuse č and ć, but Serbian distinguishes them clearly.

No, there are a few possibilities, but pored is one of the most common and useful.

Depending on context, Serbian can also use words like:

• kraj = near, by, next to
• do = right next to

But pored is a very standard way to express beside/next to.

So Kobasice su pored ćevapa is a completely natural sentence.

The pattern is:

• subject
  • to be
    • location phrase

More specifically:

• Kobasice = subject
• su = verb are
• pored ćevapa = location phrase

This is a very common Serbian sentence type, and it is useful for describing where people or things are.

For example:

• Knjige su na stolu. = The books are on the table.
• Deca su u parku. = The children are in the park.
• Kobasice su pored ćevapa. = The sausages are next to the ćevapi.