Sviđa mi se ovaj sto.

Because the Serbian verb sviđati se / svideti se works more like to be pleasing to or to appeal to.

So:

• Sviđa mi se ovaj sto. literally feels like:
  • This table is pleasing to me
  • or This table appeals to me

That is why the structure looks different from English. In Serbian, the thing you like is the grammatical subject, and the person who likes it is put in the dative case.

This is one of the most common ways to say I like... in Serbian.

Mi means to me.

It is the short dative form of ja (I).

So in this sentence:

• mi = to me
• ovaj sto = this table

That fits the idea This table is pleasing to me.

Other examples:

• Sviđa ti se = you like
• Sviđa mu se = he likes / it pleases him
• Sviđa nam se = we like

Se is part of the verb expression sviđati se / svideti se.

You should learn this verb together with se, because it normally appears that way:

• sviđati se
• svideti se

Here, se does not mean himself / herself / itself in a simple word-for-word way. It is just a fixed part of how this verb is used.

So it is best to treat sviđa mi se as a unit meaning I like it / it appeals to me.

Because the verb agrees with ovaj sto, not with mi.

In Serbian, ovaj sto is the grammatical subject of the sentence. Since sto is singular, the verb is singular too:

• ovaj sto = singular
• therefore sviđa = singular

If the thing liked were plural, the verb would also be plural:

• Sviđaju mi se ovi stolovi.
• I like these tables.

So the verb changes according to the thing that is pleasing, not according to the person who feels the liking.

Because ovaj sto is the subject of the sentence.

In English, in I like this table, this table is the object. But in Serbian with sviđati se, the structure is different:

• ovaj sto = subject, so it stays in the nominative
• mi = indirect object in the dative

That is why you get:

• ovaj sto not
• ovaj sto in the accusative form

For masculine inanimate nouns like sto, nominative and accusative are often the same anyway, but the important point is that the function here is subject, not direct object.

Ovaj means this.

It is the masculine singular nominative form of the demonstrative pronoun/adjective.

It matches sto, which is:

• masculine
• singular
• nominative

So:

• ovaj sto = this table

Compare:

• ova knjiga = this book (feminine)
• ovo pismo = this letter (neuter)
• ovi stolovi = these tables (masculine plural)

Yes, sto can mean both table and hundred.

Context tells you which meaning is intended.

In this sentence:

• Sviđa mi se ovaj sto.

it clearly means table, because:

• ovaj means this
• this hundred would not make much sense here

So this is a normal noun meaning table.

Yes, Serbian word order is fairly flexible.

A very common alternative is:

• Ovaj sto mi se sviđa.

This means the same thing: I like this table.

The difference is mostly emphasis or information structure:

• Sviđa mi se ovaj sto.
  can sound like you are introducing what it is that you like
• Ovaj sto mi se sviđa.
  puts more focus on this table

One important point: mi and se are clitics, so they usually do not stand at the very beginning of a sentence by themselves.

Yes, you can, but it is not exactly the same in feel.

• Sviđa mi se ovaj sto = I like this table / This table appeals to me
• Volim ovaj sto = I love this table or a stronger, more direct I like this table

In many situations, especially for first impressions, opinions about objects, clothes, furniture, music, and similar things, sviđa mi se is very natural.

So if you are simply saying that the table looks good to you, Sviđa mi se ovaj sto is usually the better choice.

A rough pronunciation guide is:

• sviđa ≈ SVEE-ja or SVEE-dja

The letter đ is pronounced like a soft j/dj sound, somewhat similar to the sound in British English duke for some speakers, or a softened j sound.

Very roughly:

• svi- = like svee
• -đa = a soft dja / ja

Also:

• sto = stoh
• ovaj = oh-vai or oh-vye, depending on how detailed you want the approximation

The exact Serbian sounds are a bit different from English, but that rough guide can help.

Yes. They are short unstressed forms, often called clitics.

In this sentence:

• mi = short form of the dative pronoun
• se = unstressed clitic form used with the verb

These short forms are extremely common in Serbian and usually appear in a fixed position near the beginning of the clause.

That is why Serbian often sounds compact:

• Sviđa mi se ovaj sto.

rather than using longer, more stressed forms.

You simply add ne before the verb:

• Ne sviđa mi se ovaj sto.
• I don’t like this table.

That is the normal way to negate it.

A common way is:

• Da li ti se sviđa ovaj sto?

Word-for-word:

• da li = question marker
• ti = to you
• se sviđa = is pleasing
• ovaj sto = this table

You may also hear:

• Sviđa li ti se ovaj sto?

Both are correct, but Da li ti se sviđa ovaj sto? is very common and learner-friendly.

The form sviđa is a present-tense form.

The verb is usually learned as:

• sviđati se (imperfective)
• and related perfective svideti se

In this sentence, sviđa se is the third person singular present form.

So if you look it up in a dictionary, you will usually need to search for sviđati se or svideti se, not just sviđa.