Između restorana i apoteke je mala pekara.

Između means between.

It is followed by the genitive case, so the nouns after it change form:

• restoran → restorana
• apoteka → apoteke

So između restorana i apoteke means between the restaurant and the pharmacy.

Because they come after između, and između requires the genitive.

Here you have two singular nouns joined by i (and), and both stay in the genitive:

• između restorana
• i apoteke

A very literal breakdown is:

• između = between
• restorana = of the restaurant / restaurant's (genitive form)
• i = and
• apoteke = of the pharmacy (genitive form)

Because je is an enclitic in Serbian. Enclitics are short unstressed words that usually go in the second position of the clause.

In this sentence, the first whole phrase is Između restorana i apoteke, so je comes right after that phrase:

• Između restorana i apoteke je mala pekara.

This is normal Serbian word order.

Yes. That is also correct.

The two versions are both natural, but the focus is a little different:

• Između restorana i apoteke je mala pekara.
  This starts with the location, so it feels like At that location, there is a small bakery.

• Mala pekara je između restorana i apoteke.
  This starts with the bakery, so it feels more like The small bakery is between the restaurant and the pharmacy.

Serbian word order is more flexible than English, and moving parts of the sentence often changes emphasis rather than basic meaning.

Because mala pekara is in the nominative case here.

It is the subject of the sentence, so it stays in nominative:

• mala = feminine singular nominative
• pekara = feminine singular nominative

The adjective agrees with the noun in gender, number, and case.

If it were an object, you might see malu pekaru, but not here.

Pekara means bakery — the place/shop.

A female baker is pekarka.

So in this sentence, mala pekara clearly means a small bakery, not a person.

Because Serbian has no articles.

So mala pekara can mean:

• a small bakery
• the small bakery

The exact meaning depends on context.

If Serbian wants to be more specific, it can use other words, for example:

• jedna mala pekara = a small bakery / one small bakery
• ta mala pekara = that small bakery

But in a normal sentence, no article is needed.

Yes, in a way.

English often says:

• There is a small bakery between the restaurant and the pharmacy.

Serbian usually does not need a separate word like there for that structure. It simply uses je (is) and word order:

• Između restorana i apoteke je mala pekara.

So the Serbian sentence naturally expresses the same idea as English there is.

Good question, because some Serbian case forms can look the same.

Restorana can be:

• genitive singular of restoran
• or genitive plural of restorani

But here the intended meaning is singular because of the whole phrase and context: between the restaurant and the pharmacy.

Also, apoteke here is genitive singular of apoteka, which supports the reading of one restaurant and one pharmacy.

So sometimes Serbian form alone is not enough — you use context to decide.

Apoteka usually means pharmacy — a place where you get medicine.

That is closer to British English pharmacy than to American English drugstore, since drugstore can also suggest a shop that sells many other everyday items.

So apoteka is best understood as pharmacy in most learning contexts.

A rough English-friendly approximation is iz-MEH-dyoo, with a very soft dy sound at the end.

A few useful points:

• i = like ee in see
• e = like e in met
• đ is a soft sound, somewhat like a softened j or dy
• u = oo in food

So između is not pronounced exactly like it looks to an English speaker, but with practice it becomes very natural.