Ogledalo je u sobi, a peškir je u kupatilu.

to be

Breakdown of Ogledalo je u sobi, a peškir je u kupatilu.

• u: in
• a: and
• soba: room

Questions & Answers about Ogledalo je u sobi, a peškir je u kupatilu.

Why is je used twice in this sentence?

Je is the present-tense form of biti (to be) for he/she/it is.

So:

• Ogledalo je u sobi = The mirror is in the room
• Peškir je u kupatilu = The towel is in the bathroom

It appears twice because Serbian usually says is in both parts, just like English does here.

Also, je is a clitic, which means it usually goes in the second position of its clause. That is why you see:

• Ogledalo je...
• Peškir je...

rather than Je ogledalo... in normal neutral word order.

What does a mean here?

A is a conjunction. In this sentence, it connects two statements and gives a mild contrast or comparison.

Depending on context, a can often be translated as:

• and
• while
• whereas
• sometimes even but

In this sentence, a is something like:

• The mirror is in the room, and/while the towel is in the bathroom.

It is softer than ali, which is the stronger word for but.

So:

• a = contrastive and / while
• ali = stronger