U mom frižideru nema mesa, ali je pun voća i povrća.

Because after u meaning in, Serbian uses the locative case when talking about location.

• frižider = refrigerator
• u frižideru = in the refrigerator

The adjective/pronoun also has to match the noun:

• moj frižider = my refrigerator
• u mom frižideru = in my refrigerator

So both words change:

• moj → mom
• frižider → frižideru

If you said u moj frižider, that would be ungrammatical in standard Serbian in this meaning.

Frižideru is in the locative singular.

The noun frižider is a masculine noun, and many masculine nouns take -u in the locative singular:

• grad → u gradu
• stan → u stanu
• frižider → u frižideru

This happens because the phrase is expressing location: in the fridge.

In Serbian, nema means there is no / there isn’t / does not have, and it normally requires the noun after it to be in the genitive case.

So:

• nema mesa = there is no meat

Not:

• nema meso ❌

Here mesa is the genitive singular of meso.

This is a very common pattern:

• nema vode = there is no water
• nema hleba = there is no bread
• nema vremena = there is no time

Because meso is in the genitive singular after nema.

The noun changes like this:

• meso = meat (nominative)
• mesa = of meat / any meat (genitive)

After nema, Serbian usually uses the genitive:

• Ima mesa. = There is some meat.
• Nema mesa. = There is no meat.

This often feels like a partitive idea in English: any meat / some meat.

Serbian usually does not need a separate word like English there in expressions such as there is / there are.

English:

• There is no meat.

Serbian:

• Nema mesa.

The verb form itself already expresses the idea naturally. Serbian often leaves out things English requires.

Ali means but, and pun means full.

So:

• ali je pun... = but it is full...

The je is the 3rd person singular of biti (to be):

• je = is

So literally:

• ali je pun voća i povrća = but it is full of fruit and vegetables

Because the subject is understood from the previous part of the sentence.

The full idea is:

• U mom frižideru nema mesa, ali frižider je pun voća i povrća.

But repeating frižider would sound unnecessary. Serbian often omits the subject when it is obvious from context.

So je pun means:

• it is full where it refers to my fridge.

Because pun normally takes the genitive case in Serbian.

So:

• pun voća = full of fruit
• pun povrća = full of vegetables

This is the same idea as in many Serbian expressions where one word governs a certain case.

Compare:

• čaša vode = a glass of water
• pun energije = full of energy
• pun voća = full of fruit

So voća and povrća are both in the genitive.

They are genitive singular forms of mass/collective nouns.

• voće = fruit
• povrće = vegetables / vegetable matter

In Serbian, these words often behave like mass nouns, similar to English fruit or food, even when they refer to many pieces/items.

Their genitive singular forms are:

• voća
• povrća

So:

• pun voća i povrća = full of fruit and vegetables

Even though English uses plural vegetables, Serbian still commonly uses the mass noun povrće.

Yes. Povrće is normally treated as a collective/mass noun in Serbian.

So Serbian says:

• Volim povrće. = I like vegetables.
• Kupio sam povrće. = I bought vegetables.
• Pun je povrća. = It is full of vegetables.

English often uses a plural count noun here, but Serbian usually does not.

Mom is the locative/dative singular form of the possessive adjective/pronoun moj (my).

It agrees with the noun it describes:

• moj frižider = my fridge
• u mom frižideru = in my fridge

So it changes because frižideru is in the locative.

Historically and grammatically, nema is the negative present form of imati (to have) in the expression ima / nema meaning there is / there isn’t.

Examples:

• Ima mleka. = There is some milk.
• Nema mleka. = There is no milk.

In everyday Serbian, ima / nema is one of the standard ways to express existence or absence, not just possession.

Serbian word order is more flexible than English, but different orders give different emphasis.

• U mom frižideru nema mesa sounds natural and neutral: it sets the location first, then says what is absent.
• Mesa nema u mom frižideru is also possible, but it emphasizes meat more strongly, almost like As for meat, there isn’t any in my fridge.

So the given order is the most straightforward, neutral way to say it.

Yes. Frižider is very common in everyday speech, and another word you may see is hladnjak.

• frižider = fridge/refrigerator
• hladnjak = refrigerator (more formal or regional in some contexts)

In casual speech, frižider is extremely common and perfectly natural.

Then you would say:

• U frižideru nema mesa, ali je pun voća i povrća.

You simply remove mom.

Compare:

• U mom frižideru = in my fridge
• U frižideru = in the fridge

The rest of the sentence stays the same.

This sentence is a great example of three very common Serbian patterns:

1. Location with u + locative

   • u mom frižideru = in my fridge

2. Absence with nema + genitive

   • nema mesa = there is no meat

3. Fullness with pun + genitive

   • pun voća i povrća = full of fruit and vegetables

If you remember those three patterns, this sentence becomes much easier to understand and reuse.