Stanar se iselio zbog kvara.

Serbian has no articles. So stanar can mean the tenant, a tenant, or simply tenant/occupant, depending on context.

English forces you to choose the or a, but Serbian usually leaves that to the situation.

Stanar means a person living in a place, often an occupant or tenant.

Depending on context, it can be:

• a renter
• someone occupying an apartment
• a resident of a flat or house

It is broader than English tenant in some situations. A related word is podstanar, which more specifically means lodger/subtenant/renter.

Because iseliti se is the normal verb meaning to move out.

Here se is not translated literally as himself. It is part of the verb.

Compare:

• iseliti se = to move out
• iseliti nekoga = to move someone out / resettle someone

So:

• Stanar se iselio = The tenant moved out

Without se, the verb would usually mean that someone moved someone else.

Iselio comes from the perfective verb iseliti se, which presents the action as completed.

So:

• iselio se = moved out / has moved out
• selio se = was moving, used to move, or focuses more on the process

In this sentence, the tenant completed the action, so iselio se is the natural choice.

The base idea is seliti (se), which is about moving. The form iseliti se adds the idea of moving out from a place.

Very roughly:

• seliti se = to move
• iseliti se = to move out
• preseliti se = to move/relocate to another place
• odseliti se = to move away

So iseliti se fits well when someone leaves an apartment, house, or similar place.

In the Serbian past tense, this form agrees with the subject in gender and number.

Here iselio is:

• masculine singular

That matches stanar, which is a masculine singular noun.

Compare:

• stanarka se iselila = a female tenant moved out
• stanari se iselili = male/mixed tenants moved out

In Serbian, with many 3rd-person reflexive past forms, the sentence normally appears without je.

So the natural form is:

• Stanar se iselio

Learners often expect something like je, but with se verbs this shorter form is the standard and natural one in Serbian.

Because zbog requires the genitive case.

The noun is:

• nominative: kvar
• genitive singular: kvara

So:

• zbog kvara = because of a/the fault/breakdown

This is a very common pattern:

• zbog kiše = because of the rain
• zbog posla = because of work
• zbog problema = because of a problem

Kvar usually means a fault, defect, breakdown, or malfunction.

It is often used for things like:

• plumbing problems
• heating failure
• electrical faults
• broken appliances
• building damage or technical problems

So in this sentence, it suggests the tenant moved out because something in the place was not working properly or was seriously wrong.

They are close, but not always identical.

A useful distinction is:

• iseliti se = move out of a place
• odseliti se = move away

In many everyday sentences, both can sound natural. But iseliti se is especially good when the focus is on leaving the apartment or residence itself.

Yes. Serbian word order is fairly flexible.

The neutral version is:

• Stanar se iselio zbog kvara.

You could also say:

• Zbog kvara se stanar iselio.

That gives more emphasis to the reason.

The meaning stays basically the same, but the focus changes slightly.

No. Zbog means because of or due to, not for the purpose of.

So this sentence means the tenant moved out because of the fault.

If you wanted to express purpose in Serbian, you would use a different structure, not zbog.