Ключі лежать у шухляді столу.

Ключі is the nominative plural form of ключ (key).

In this sentence, ключі is the subject, so it appears in the nominative case.
Singular: ключ
Plural: ключі

The verb is also plural to match it: ключі лежать = the keys are lying / the keys are in...

Because лежать is the main verb here. It means lie or be lying.

Ukrainian often uses specific position/location verbs where English might just use is/are:

• лежати = to lie
• стояти = to stand
• висіти = to hang

So Ключі лежать... literally means The keys are lying..., not just The keys are...

Also, present-tense є is often omitted in Ukrainian when it would simply mean is/are, but here it would not be needed anyway because лежать already does the job.

Usually, yes — or at least it presents them as being in a resting position, not standing or hanging.

Ukrainian often chooses the verb based on how something is positioned:

• Книга лежить на столі. = The book is lying on the table.
• Чашка стоїть на столі. = The cup is standing on the table.
• Картина висить на стіні. = The picture is hanging on the wall.

With keys in a drawer, лежать is the natural choice.

Yes, у and в both commonly mean in.

Ukrainian alternates between them mainly for euphony — to make pronunciation smoother.
Here, у шухляді sounds natural because шухляді begins with a consonant cluster, and у is easier to say before it.

So both are possible in many contexts, but у шухляді is very natural.

Because it follows у, which here expresses location, so шухляда must go into the locative case.

Dictionary form: шухляда = drawer
Locative singular: у шухляді = in the drawer

So:

• шухляда = drawer
• у шухляді = in the drawer

This is a very common pattern:

• у кімнаті = in the room
• у школі = at school / in the school
• у шухляді = in the drawer

Because столу depends on шухляді and means something like of the table/desk.

The phrase шухляда столу means the table’s/desk’s drawer or the drawer of the desk.
That relationship is expressed with the genitive case in Ukrainian.

Dictionary form: стіл = table / desk
Genitive singular: столу

So:

• у шухляді столу = in the drawer of the desk/table

Because Ukrainian does not normally put two nouns together in the same way English can.

English can say:

• desk drawer

But Ukrainian usually expresses this as:

• шухляда столу = drawer of the desk

So the second noun changes into the genitive rather than staying in its basic form.

Yes. Стіл can mean table, and in many contexts it can also mean desk.

So шухляда столу is understood as the drawer of the desk/table depending on context. In real life, if a drawer is mentioned, English will often naturally translate it as desk drawer.

Because Ukrainian has no articles.

English says:

• the keys
• a drawer
• the desk

Ukrainian simply uses the noun without articles:

• ключі
• шухляді
• столу

Whether something is a or the is understood from context.

No, Ukrainian word order is fairly flexible.

Ключі лежать у шухляді столу is a neutral, natural order. But other orders are possible depending on emphasis, for example:

• У шухляді столу лежать ключі.
  This puts more focus on the location first.

Because the cases show the grammatical relationships, Ukrainian can move parts around more freely than English.

No. Шухляда is a common word for drawer, especially in standard Ukrainian.

You may also encounter regional or less standard alternatives, but шухляда is a good, normal word to learn and use.

A helpful stress guide is:

• ключІ
• лежАть
• у шухлЯді
• столУ

So the full sentence is pronounced roughly as:

klyu-CHEE le-ZHAT u shu-KHLYA-di sto-LOO

A few pronunciation notes:

• ж sounds like the s in measure
• ш sounds like sh
• х is like a throaty kh, not the English h
• ю in ключі gives a lyu-type sound

Yes — and in natural English, in the desk drawer is usually the better translation.

Ukrainian uses the structure шухляда столу literally drawer of the desk/table, but English often prefers a noun-noun phrase like desk drawer. So both express the same idea, and in the desk drawer is often the most natural English version.