Restoran je blizu kancelarije.

Je means is. It is the 3rd person singular form of the verb biti (to be).

So the structure is:

• Restoran = restaurant
• je = is
• blizu kancelarije = near the office

Literally: The restaurant is near the office.

Blizu means near or close to.

In Serbian, it behaves like a word that is followed by a noun in the genitive case. That is why you get:

• blizu kancelarije = near the office

You will often see blizu used in this pattern:

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

Because blizu requires the genitive case.

The basic form is:

• kancelarija = office

But after blizu, it changes to:

• kancelarije = of the office / near the office

So:

• blizu kancelarije = near the office

This is a very common thing in Serbian: certain words force the following noun into a specific case.

Here it is singular genitive.

That can be confusing, because kancelarije can also be a plural form in other contexts. But in this sentence, because it follows blizu, the meaning is clearly:

• near the office
  not
• near the offices

The dictionary form is kancelarija, and here it changes to the singular genitive kancelarije.

Serbian normally does not use articles like a or the.

So:

• restoran can mean a restaurant or the restaurant
• kancelarija can mean an office or the office

Which one is meant depends on context. In your sentence, English translates it naturally as The restaurant is near the office, but Serbian does not need separate words for the.

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

The neutral order here is:

• Restoran je blizu kancelarije.

But other orders are possible, depending on emphasis, for example:

• Blizu kancelarije je restoran. = Near the office is the restaurant.
• Blizu je kancelarije restoran. = possible, but much less natural in ordinary speech

The original version is the most normal and straightforward.

A rough pronunciation for an English speaker is:

• Restoran ≈ res-toh-RAHN
• je ≈ yeh
• blizu ≈ BLEE-zoo
• kancelarije ≈ kan-tse-lah-REE-yeh

A few helpful points:

• j in Serbian sounds like English y
• c in Serbian usually sounds like ts
• every vowel is pronounced clearly

So kancelarije has that -ye- sound near the end because of j.

No. Kancelarija is a common word for office, especially in the sense of a room or workplace office.

Another common word is ured, though that is more typical in Croatian and some regional varieties.

In Serbian, kancelarija is very natural and widely used.

Restoran is masculine.

That matters in Serbian because adjectives and some other words often agree with the noun’s gender, number, and case. In this particular sentence, you do not see much agreement because:

• restoran is just the subject noun
• je does not change for gender in the present tense
• blizu does not agree with restoran

But gender is still important in general. For example, if you added an adjective:

• Veliki restoran je blizu kancelarije. = The big restaurant is near the office.

Here veliki matches the masculine noun restoran.

In standard Serbian, in a normal present-tense sentence like this, you should keep je:

• Restoran je blizu kancelarije.

Leaving it out would sound incomplete or unnatural in standard usage.

Serbian sometimes omits forms of to be in certain styles, headings, or very informal contexts, but for a learner, it is best to include je here.

No, that would not be correct in Serbian.

You should say:

• blizu kancelarije

Do not add od after blizu here.
The word blizu directly takes the genitive case.

So the correct pattern is:

• blizu + genitive

Examples:

• blizu škole
• blizu parka
• blizu kancelarije

You make it negative by changing je to nije:

• Restoran nije blizu kancelarije. = The restaurant is not near the office.

So:

• je = is
• nije = is not

That is the standard way to negate this sentence.

A simple yes/no question is:

• Da li je restoran blizu kancelarije? = Is the restaurant near the office?

You may also hear:

• Je li restoran blizu kancelarije?

Both are used, but Da li je... is especially clear and learner-friendly.