Nož i viljuška su desno od tanjira.

Because the sentence is talking about one knife and one fork. In Serbian, if you join two singular nouns with i (and), each noun can stay singular:

• nož = knife
• viljuška = fork

Together, though, they make a plural subject, which is why the verb is plural.

If you meant several knives and forks, then the nouns themselves would be plural too.

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

Since Nož i viljuška means knife and fork—two things together—the verb must be plural:

• je = is
• su = are

So:

• Nož je desno od tanjira. = The knife is to the right of the plate.
• Nož i viljuška su desno od tanjira. = The knife and fork are to the right of the plate.

Because after od, Serbian uses the genitive case.

The basic dictionary form is tanjir, but in the phrase desno od ... (to the right of ...), the noun after od changes form:

• tanjir = nominative
• tanjira = genitive singular

So:

• desno od tanjira = to the right of the plate

This is a very common pattern in Serbian:

• levo od kuće
• ispred škole
• iza zgrade

Here desno is being used like an adverb or location word, meaning to the right.

It is not an adjective directly describing a noun, so it does not change for gender, number, or case.

Compare:

• desno od tanjira = to the right of the plate
• na desnoj strani = on the right side

In na desnoj strani, desnoj is an adjective agreeing with strani, so it changes form. In desno od tanjira, desno stays the same.

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

So nož, viljuška, and tanjir can mean a knife, the knife, a fork, the fork, a plate, or the plate, depending on context.

If Serbian wants to be more specific, it can use words like:

• ovaj = this
• taj = that
• onaj = that over there

For example:

• Ovaj nož je desno od tanjira. = This knife is to the right of the plate.

No—desno od is the normal expression.

English speakers often want to translate on the right of word-for-word, but Serbian does not say na desno od in this structure.

Use:

• desno od tanjira = to the right of the plate

A different, correct structure is:

• na desnoj strani tanjira = on the right side of the plate

So both are possible, but they are built differently:

• desno od + genitive
• na desnoj strani + genitive

Yes. Serbian word order is more flexible than English.

The original sentence is a normal, neutral order:

• Nož i viljuška su desno od tanjira.

But you can also say:

• Desno od tanjira su nož i viljuška.

That version puts more focus on the location first, something like To the right of the plate are the knife and fork.

Both are grammatical. The difference is mostly one of emphasis and style.

Normally, no. In a standard present-tense sentence like this, su should be there.

So:

• Nož i viljuška su desno od tanjira. ✅

Without su, the sentence sounds incomplete in standard Serbian:

• Nož i viljuška desno od tanjira. ❌

Unlike some other Slavic languages, Serbian usually keeps the present-tense forms of to be in sentences like this.

A few sounds here are especially important:

• ž in nož: like the s in measure
• š in viljuška: like sh in shoe
• lj in viljuška: a soft sound somewhat like the lli in million for many English speakers
• nj in tanjira: like ny in canyon
• j in Serbian is like English y in yes

A useful general rule: Serbian spelling is very phonetic, so words are usually pronounced the way they are written.

Not necessarily. It means to the right of the plate, but it does not by itself say exactly how close.

In a table-setting context, people may naturally imagine the knife and fork near the plate, but grammatically the phrase only gives the relative position.

If you specifically want to say next to the plate, Serbian often uses:

• pored tanjira = next to / beside the plate

So:

• desno od tanjira = to the right of the plate
• pored tanjira = beside the plate

They are in the nominative case, because they are the subject of the sentence.

So the sentence has:

• nož — nominative singular
• viljuška — nominative singular
• tanjira — genitive singular, after od

That contrast is very typical in Serbian: the subject stays in the nominative, while the noun after a preposition may change case.