Stan je blizu škole.

Because blizu normally takes the genitive case in Serbian.

• Dictionary form: škola = school
• Genitive singular: škole

So in Stan je blizu škole, škole is in the genitive because it follows blizu.

A useful pattern to remember is:

blizu + genitive

For example:

• blizu kuće = near the house
• blizu grada = near the city
• blizu škole = near the school

Stan is in the nominative singular.

It is the subject of the sentence, so nominative is exactly what you would expect here.

Structure:

• Stan = subject, nominative
• je = is
• blizu škole = near the school

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

So:

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

In this sentence, je means is.

So the core pattern is:

Stan je ... = The apartment is ...

In standard Serbian, no—you normally keep it here.

Stan je blizu škole is the normal full sentence.

Serbian sometimes omits forms of to be in certain styles, headlines, or very informal speech, but for a learner, you should treat je as required in a sentence like this.

For learners, the most useful way to think about it here is that blizu behaves like a word meaning near and it is followed by the genitive.

You will often see it described as:

• an adverb
• or a preposition-like word when used with a noun phrase

What matters most practically is this:

blizu + genitive

So even if grammar books classify it a bit differently, the key thing to remember is the case it requires.

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

So:

• stan can mean an apartment, the apartment, or simply apartment
• škola can mean a school or the school

The exact meaning usually depends on context.

That is why Stan je blizu škole can naturally correspond to English The apartment is near the school.

Stan usually means apartment or flat.

It does not mean room.
For room, Serbian uses soba.

So:

• stan = apartment / flat
• soba = room

This is a very common beginner vocabulary point because English speakers may not be sure how broad stan is.

No, that would not be correct here.

After blizu, Serbian normally uses the genitive, so you need:

• škola → nominative
• škole → genitive singular

Correct:

• Stan je blizu škole.

Not correct here:

• Stan je blizu školi.

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

The neutral, most natural version is:

Stan je blizu škole.

But other orders are possible for emphasis or style, such as:

• Blizu škole je stan.
• Škole je stan blizu. — much less neutral, and context-dependent

For everyday use, stick with:

Stan je blizu škole.

The dictionary form is škola.

Here is the relationship:

• škola = nominative singular
• škole = genitive singular

So if you look the word up in a dictionary, you would search for škola, not škole.

You change je to nije.

So:

• Stan je blizu škole. = The apartment is near the school.
• Stan nije blizu škole. = The apartment is not near the school.

This is a very common pattern:

• je → nije

Yes, but blizu is one of the most common and straightforward choices.

A related word is blizak, but it is an adjective, not the same structure.

For example:

• blizu škole = near the school
• blizak prijatelj = a close friend

So for physical location, blizu + genitive is the pattern you want here.

A simple learner-friendly pronunciation guide:

• škole ≈ SHKO-leh
• blizu ≈ BLI-zoo

A few helpful sound notes:

• š sounds like English sh
• ž would sound like the s in measure, but there is no ž in this sentence
• Serbian spelling is quite phonetic, so words are usually pronounced very close to how they are written

Only partly.

It is true that škole is in the genitive, and English often uses ’s for possession, but here the meaning is not possessive.

So you should not translate it as the school’s in this sentence.

Instead, think of genitive here as being required by blizu:

• blizu škole = near the school

So the genitive in Serbian has several uses, and this is one of them.