Шолом лежить на сідлі біля велосипедного замка.

A word-for-word breakdown is:

• Шолом = helmet
• лежить = is lying / lies / is located lying down
• на = on
• сідлі = saddle / seat in the locative case
• біля = near / by
• велосипедного = bicycle in adjective form, agreeing with замка
• замка = lock in the genitive case

So the sentence literally feels like:

• Helmet lies on saddle near bicycle lock.

Natural English adds articles:

• The helmet is lying on the saddle near the bicycle lock.

In Ukrainian, verbs like лежати often describe both:

• the position of something, and
• the fact that it is located somewhere

So лежить means something like:

• is lying
• lies
• is sitting there in a lying position

This is more specific than just is.

Compare:

• Шолом лежить на сідлі. = The helmet is lying on the saddle.
• Шолом є на сідлі. = grammatically possible in some contexts, but much less natural here

Ukrainian often prefers a positional verb like:

• лежить = lies
• стоїть = stands
• висить = hangs

Because на can take different cases depending on the meaning.

Here are the two main patterns:

• на + accusative = movement onto something
• на + locative = location on something

In this sentence, the helmet is already there, so we use the locative:

• на сідлі = on the saddle

Compare:

• Поклади шолом на сідло. = Put the helmet onto the saddle.
  
  • movement, so accusative
• Шолом лежить на сідлі. = The helmet is lying on the saddle.
  
  • location, so locative

Because сідло is in the locative singular after на when it means location.

The basic form is:

• сідло = saddle, seat

Its locative singular is:

• на сідлі = on the saddle

This is a normal pattern for many neuter nouns ending in -о.

So:

• сідло → сідлі

The ending changes because the noun’s role in the sentence changes.

The preposition біля requires the genitive case.

So after біля you must use genitive:

• біля замка = near the lock

Because велосипедного describes замка, it also has to be in the genitive and agree with it:

• велосипедного замка = of the bicycle lock / bicycle lock

So the structure is:

• біля + genitive

Examples:

• біля будинку = near the house
• біля машини = near the car
• біля велосипедного замка = near the bicycle lock

Both patterns can exist in Ukrainian, but they mean slightly different things stylistically.

1. велосипедний замок
   This means a bicycle lock as a type of object — a lock used for bicycles.

2. замок велосипеда
   This means the bicycle’s lock or the lock of the bicycle.

In your sentence:

• біля велосипедного замка

most naturally means:

• near the bicycle lock

That is, the lock is being described by type, not possession.

Yes, here it clearly means lock.

The noun замок can mean either:

• castle
• lock

But context makes the meaning obvious.

Since the phrase is:

• велосипедного замка

the natural meaning is:

• bicycle lock

not bicycle castle, of course.

This kind of ambiguity is normal in Ukrainian, and context usually resolves it immediately.

They are similar, but not always identical.

• біля = near, by
• поруч з = next to, beside

біля can be a bit broader: something is close to something else.

поруч з often suggests being directly beside it.

So:

• Шолом лежить на сідлі біля велосипедного замка.
  = The helmet is on the saddle near the bicycle lock.

If you said:

• Шолом лежить на сідлі поруч із велосипедним замком.

that would also be natural, but it may sound slightly more like the helmet is right next to the lock.

Notice that поруч із takes the instrumental case, so the noun form changes:

• велосипедним замком

Ukrainian has no articles like English a and the.

So:

• Шолом can mean a helmet or the helmet
• сідлі can mean on a saddle or on the saddle
• замка can mean of a lock or of the lock

English has to choose an article, but Ukrainian usually leaves that to context.

In this sentence, English naturally uses the:

• The helmet is lying on the saddle near the bicycle lock.

But depending on context, it could also be translated more generally:

• A helmet is lying on a saddle near a bicycle lock.

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

The neutral order here is:

• Шолом лежить на сідлі біля велосипедного замка.

But other orders are possible, for example:

• На сідлі біля велосипедного замка лежить шолом.
• Біля велосипедного замка на сідлі лежить шолом.

These all describe the same basic situation, but the emphasis changes.

For example:

• starting with На сідлі... emphasizes the location
• starting with Шолом... emphasizes the object

So the original sentence is a natural, straightforward option, but not the only one.

Шолом is in the nominative singular.

That is the dictionary form, and it is used here because шолом is the grammatical subject of the sentence:

• Шолом лежить = The helmet is lying

It is a masculine inanimate noun.

Basic pattern:

• шолом = nominative singular
• шолома = genitive singular
• шоломом = instrumental singular

In this sentence, nominative is used because the helmet is the thing doing the lying.

They are related, but not identical.

• сідло = saddle
• сидіння = seat

For a bicycle, сідло is usually the best word. It sounds more precise and natural for the kind of seat a bicycle has.

So:

• на сідлі = on the saddle

If you said на сидінні, it would sound more like a general seat, such as in a car, bus, or chair-like object.

Then you would usually use a verb of motion or placement, and сідло would switch to the accusative.

For example:

• Шолом кладуть на сідло. = They are putting the helmet onto the saddle.
• Поклади шолом на сідло. = Put the helmet onto the saddle.

Compare:

• на сідло = onto the saddle, direction/movement
• на сідлі = on the saddle, location

This is a very common contrast in Ukrainian.

A rough pronunciation guide for an English speaker is:

• Шолом ≈ sho-LOM
• лежить ≈ le-ZHYT
• на ≈ na
• сідлі ≈ SEED-lee
• біля ≈ BEE-lya
• велосипедного ≈ ve-lo-sy-PED-no-ho
• замка ≈ zam-KA

A rough full-sentence pronunciation:

• sho-LOM le-ZHYT na SEED-lee BEE-lya ve-lo-sy-PED-no-ho zam-KA

A few helpful notes:

• ж sounds like the s in measure
• і sounds like ee
• г in standard Ukrainian is usually a softer sound than English g, closer to a voiced h

This is only an approximation, but it should help you get started.