Skrovište je ispod stola.

The hiding place is under the table.

Breakdown of Skrovište je ispod stola.

• biti: to be
• stol: table
• ispod: under
• skrovište: a hiding place; shelter

Questions & Answers about Skrovište je ispod stola.

What does je mean here?

Je is the 3rd person singular present tense of biti (to be).

So:

• skrovište = hiding place / shelter
• je = is
• ispod stola = under the table

Croatian often uses forms of biti the same way English uses is/am/are.

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Examples:

• Kuća je velika. = The house is big.
• Knjiga je na stolu. = The book is on the table.

Why is it stola and not stol?

Because the preposition ispod normally requires the genitive case.

The basic dictionary form is:

• stol = table

But after ispod (under, below), it changes to genitive singular:

• stol → stola

So:

• ispod stola = under the table

This is a very common pattern in Croatian: the preposition determines which case the following noun must take.

Does ispod always take the genitive?