Learn Hardcore Croatian: Djeca drže svoje igračke u sobi. - Children keep their toys in the room.

Even though many nouns ending in -a are feminine singular (like žena, soba), djeca is a special case: it is used only as a plural noun and always takes plural verb forms:

Djeca drže… = The children hold…
Djeca su vesela. = The children are happy.

So the verb must be in 3rd person plural to agree with djeca.

Why is the verb form drže used here?

The infinitive is držati = to hold / to keep.

Drže is:

person: 3rd person
number: plural
tense: present

So drže means they hold / they are holding / they keep.

It agrees with the subject djeca (children = they), so we use drže, not drži:

Dijete drži igračku. – The child is holding a toy. (3rd person singular)
Djeca drže svoje igračke. – The children are holding/keeping their toys. (3rd person plural)

Why is it svoje igračke and not njihove igračke?

Both are grammatically possible, but they are used differently:

svoje igračke – their own toys (refers back to the subject of the sentence, djeca)
njihove igračke – their toys (can refer to some other group’s toys, not necessarily the subject)

In this sentence, the children are keeping their own toys, so Croatian prefers the reflexive possessive svoje:

Djeca drže svoje igračke u sobi.
= The children keep their own toys in the room.

If you used njihove, it could sound like the children are keeping someone else’s toys (depending on context).

How does svoje agree with igračke?

Svoje behaves like an adjective and must match the noun it refers to (igračke) in:

gender: feminine
number: plural
case: accusative (object of drže)

Igračka (toy) is:

nominative singular: igračka
nominative plural: igračke
accusative plural (inanimate): also igračke

So here:

igračke – feminine, plural, accusative
svoje – feminine, plural, accusative (to match igračke)

That is why we get svoje igračke, not svoj igračke or svoja igračke.

Why is igračke in this form? How do I know it is the object?

Igračke is the direct object of the verb drže:

Što djeca drže? – svoje igračke.

In Croatian, direct objects are normally in the accusative case. For inanimate feminine nouns in the plural, the accusative has the same form as the nominative:

nominative plural: igračke
accusative plural: igračke

So the form alone does not tell you nominative vs accusative; you see it from the function in the sentence (it answers what? after the verb).

Why is it u sobi and not u soba or u sobu?

Soba = room is a feminine noun.

The preposition u can take either:

locative (where? – static location)
accusative (where to? – movement into)

Here, the meaning is in the room (location, no movement), so we use locative singular:

nominative: soba
locative: sobi → u sobi = in the room

Compare:

Djeca su u sobi. – The children are in the room. (locative)
Djeca idu u sobu. – The children are going into the room. (accusative)

Can I change the word order, or must it be exactly Djeca drže svoje igračke u sobi?

Croatian word order is flexible. All of these are possible:

Djeca drže svoje igračke u sobi. (neutral)
Djeca u sobi drže svoje igračke. (mild focus on “in the room”)
Svoje igračke djeca drže u sobi. (focus on “their toys”)
U sobi djeca drže svoje igračke. (focus on “in the room”)

The grammatical relationships are shown by endings, not by word order. Changing the order generally changes emphasis, not the basic meaning.

How do I say a child holds its toy in the room?

You switch the subject to the singular dijete and adjust the verb and forms accordingly:

Dijete drži svoju igračku u sobi.

Breakdown:

Dijete – a child
drži – holds (3rd person singular)
svoju igračku – its own toy (feminine singular accusative)
u sobi – in the room (locative)

Notice how svoju igračku is singular to agree with igračka (one toy).

In English I might say The children have their toys in the room. Why is Croatian using drže instead of imaju?

Both are possible, but there is a nuance:

Djeca drže svoje igračke u sobi.
– The children keep/hold/store their toys in the room. (focus on where the toys are kept/placed)
Djeca imaju svoje igračke u sobi.
– The children have their toys in the room. (focus more on possession, less on the idea of deliberately keeping them there)

In many contexts they can overlap, but držati (drže) suggests the toys are being kept there on purpose, like a usual storage place.

Where is the in this sentence? Why is there no word for the children / the room / the toys?

Croatian has no articles (no equivalents of a/an or the).

Whether a noun is definite or indefinite is understood from context, not from a separate word:

Djeca drže svoje igračke u sobi.
Depending on context, this can be:
- Children keep their toys in a room.
- The children keep their toys in the room.

If the context is clear (for example, everyone knows which children and which room you are talking about), Croatian simply uses the bare nouns without any article.