Гребінець лежить біля дзеркала, а фен — у шухляді.

Because біля means near/by and it requires the genitive case.

• Base form: дзеркало = mirror
• After біля: біля дзеркала = near the mirror

This is very common in Ukrainian: certain prepositions automatically force a specific case, and біля is one of the prepositions that takes the genitive.

Because у here means in, and with location it usually takes the locative case.

• Base form: шухляда = drawer
• Locative form: у шухляді = in the drawer

So the ending changes because the noun is showing location.

In Ukrainian, it is very natural to use verbs like лежати (to lie), стояти (to stand), or висіти (to hang) when describing where something is.

So:

• Гребінець лежить біля дзеркала literally means The comb is lying near the mirror
• In natural English, we often just say The comb is near the mirror
• In Ukrainian, using лежить sounds normal and specific

Also, for a comb, лежить makes sense because a comb typically lies flat somewhere.

The dash shows that a word has been left out because it is understood from the first clause.

Full version:

• Гребінець лежить біля дзеркала, а фен лежить у шухляді.

But Ukrainian often omits repeated words, especially verbs, when they are obvious from context:

• Гребінець лежить біля дзеркала, а фен — у шухляді.

So the dash here stands in for the omitted лежить.

А often means and, but with a slight sense of contrast or comparison.

In this sentence:

• Гребінець лежить біля дзеркала, а фен — у шухляді.

The idea is:

• The comb is near the mirror, while the hair dryer is in the drawer.

So а is not just joining two things randomly; it sets them against each other a little:

• one item is in one place
• the other item is in another place

That is why а works better than і here.

У and в both usually mean in. Ukrainian often chooses between them for easier pronunciation and smoother sound.

Here:

• фен — у шухляді

Using у after фен sounds more natural than в шухляді in this spot.

This alternation is very common in Ukrainian. It usually does not change the meaning; it is mostly about euphony.

Yes. Фен is the normal everyday Ukrainian word for hair dryer.

Depending on context, learners may first think of fan, because the words look similar, but here фен specifically means a device for drying hair.

The dictionary form is лежати, which means to lie.

• лежати = infinitive, dictionary form
• лежить = lies / is lying (3rd person singular)

So in this sentence, лежить agrees with гребінець, which is singular:

• гребінець лежить = the comb lies / is lying

Yes. Ukrainian very often omits repeated material when it is obvious.

Compare:

• Full: Гребінець лежить біля дзеркала, а фен лежить у шухляді.
• Shorter, more natural: Гребінець лежить біля дзеркала, а фен — у шухляді.

English can do something similar:

• The comb is near the mirror, and the hair dryer is in the drawer.
• or even The comb is near the mirror, and the hair dryer in the drawer would be incomplete in English, but Ukrainian handles this kind of omission much more naturally, especially with a dash.

Not completely. Ukrainian word order is fairly flexible, but the version here is natural and clear.

• Гребінець лежить біля дзеркала puts the object first, then the location
• а фен — у шухляді keeps the contrast neat and balanced

You could change the order for emphasis, but this sentence sounds like a normal neutral description.

A good breakdown is:

• Гребінець — nominative singular

  • the subject of the sentence

• лежить — verb

  • lies / is lying

• біля дзеркала — біля

  • genitive
  • дзеркала is genitive singular of дзеркало

• фен — nominative singular

  • subject of the second clause

• у шухляді — у

  • locative
  • шухляді is locative singular of шухляда

So the two most important case patterns here are:

• біля
  • genitive
• у
  • locative for location