Буряк лежить біля часнику.

Because the preposition біля requires the genitive case.

• Dictionary form: часник
• After біля: часнику

So біля часнику means near the garlic. The ending -у is a common genitive singular ending for masculine nouns.

Буряк is in the nominative singular. It is the subject of the sentence — the thing that is doing the action of лежить.

So the basic structure is:

• буряк = subject
• лежить = verb
• біля часнику = location phrase

Лежить is the 3rd person singular present tense of лежати.

That means it matches a singular subject:

• буряк лежить = the beet is lying
• if the subject were plural, you would use лежать:
  • буряки лежать = the beets are lying

Ukrainian often prefers a verb that describes an object's position.

• лежати / лежить = to lie, to be lying
• стояти / стоїть = to stand, to be standing
• висіти / висить = to hang, to be hanging

So Буряк лежить біля часнику sounds natural because the beet is understood as resting somewhere, not just abstractly existing there.

English often says is, but Ukrainian frequently chooses a more specific posture verb.

Біля means near, by, or next to.

It does not always mean touching; it usually means in the immediate vicinity. In many contexts, English could translate it in several ways depending on what sounds best.

Also, біля regularly takes the genitive case, which is why you get часнику.

Yes. Ukrainian word order is fairly flexible because the case endings show the grammatical roles.

The most neutral order here is:

• Буряк лежить біля часнику.

But you could also say:

• Біля часнику лежить буряк.

That version puts more focus on the location first, something like Near the garlic, there is a beet lying.

So the meaning stays basically the same, but the emphasis changes.

Because Ukrainian has no articles.

So буряк can mean:

• a beet
• the beet

and часнику can mean:

• of garlic
• of the garlic

Context tells you which one is meant. This is completely normal in Ukrainian.

Yes, часнику is grammatically singular here.

Like English garlic, Ukrainian часник can refer to garlic as a substance or general food item, not necessarily one clearly countable object.

If you want to be more specific, Ukrainian can name parts:

• зубчик часнику = a clove of garlic
• головка часнику = a head/bulb of garlic

So in this sentence, часнику is just the natural form after біля and does not force a very specific interpretation by itself.

Yes, буряк is grammatically masculine.

In Ukrainian, grammatical gender is a property of the word, not of biological sex. A vegetable can easily be masculine, feminine, or neuter depending on its form.

Here, буряк ends in a consonant, which is a common pattern for masculine nouns. That is why it behaves as masculine in grammar.

For example, an adjective would agree with it in masculine form:

• великий буряк = a big beet

Yes, sometimes.

For example:

• коло часнику = near the garlic
• поруч із часником = next to / beside the garlic

Notice the grammar changes:

• біля
  • genitive → біля часнику
• коло
  • genitive → коло часнику
• поруч із
  • instrumental → поруч із часником

So the meaning is similar, but the required case depends on the preposition.