Djeca ostaju unutra sve dok ne prestane kiša i dok se trava malo ne osuši.

In Croatian, the present tense is very often used for future situations when the context already makes the time clear.

So in:

Djeca ostaju unutra...

the literal form is The children stay/remain inside, but in natural English the best translation is often:

The children will stay inside...

This is especially common when talking about what will happen until something else happens.

Sve dok means until or for as long as.

So:

sve dok ne prestane kiša
= until the rain stops

Then the sentence adds another condition:

i dok se trava malo ne osuši
= and until the grass dries a little

The second dok is repeated because there are two parallel time clauses:

• until the rain stops
• and until the grass dries a little

Croatian often repeats the conjunction in this kind of coordinated structure. It sounds natural and clear.

This is one of the most common questions learners ask.

After dok or sve dok meaning until, Croatian often uses ne even though the meaning is not negative.

So:

• dok ne prestane kiša = until the rain stops
• dok se trava ne osuši = until the grass dries

Here, ne is a grammatical feature of the construction, not a real negation in the English sense.

So you should not read it as:

• until the rain does not stop
• until the grass does not dry

That would be wrong in English. In this structure, Croatian simply requires ne very often.

Prestane is from the perfective verb prestati = to stop / to come to an end.

Croatian distinguishes between:

• imperfective verbs: ongoing, repeated, habitual action
• perfective verbs: completed action, reaching an endpoint

Here the sentence is about the moment when the rain stops completely, so Croatian uses the perfective verb:

• prestati → prestane

If you said prestaje, that would suggest an ongoing process like is stopping, which is not what this sentence wants. The clause means until the stopping happens.

For the same reason as prestane.

• sušiti (se) is imperfective: to be drying, to dry in an ongoing/repeated sense
• osušiti (se) is perfective: to dry up, to become dry, to reach dryness

In this sentence, the idea is that the grass must reach a certain result:

dok se trava malo ne osuši
= until the grass dries a little

So Croatian uses the perfective form osuši because it points to the result or completion of the change.

Here se is part of the verb osušiti se, which means to dry in the sense to become dry.

So:

• osušiti nešto = to dry something
• osušiti se = to dry / to become dry oneself

In this sentence, the grass is not drying something else; it is becoming dry. That is why Croatian uses the reflexive form:

trava se osuši
= the grass dries / becomes dry

This is a very common pattern in Croatian.

Because the verbs agree with different subjects:

• Djeca ostaju → children is plural, so ostaju is plural
• kiša prestane → rain is singular, so prestane is singular
• trava se osuši → grass is singular, so osuši is singular

Even though djeca looks a little unusual to English speakers, it behaves as a plural noun here.

Djeca means children and is grammatically plural.

It is the standard nominative plural form used as the subject:

Djeca ostaju unutra.
= The children are staying inside.

This noun is a bit special, because it is a collective plural-type noun and does not behave exactly like a regular singular noun despite the ending. For learners, the important thing is simply:

• djeca = children
• it takes plural agreement

So: djeca ostaju, not djeca ostaje.

Unutra means inside.

In this sentence it works as an adverb of place, so:

Djeca ostaju unutra
= The children stay inside

It does not specify inside where. It just means they are remaining indoors / in an inside space.

You could compare:

• unutra = inside
• u kući = in the house
• u sobi = in the room

So unutra is more general.

Malo means a little.

So:

dok se trava malo ne osuši
means
until the grass dries a little

The idea is not that the grass must become completely dry, only somewhat dry or dry enough.

This small word softens the condition and makes it more natural: the children are waiting not only for the rain to stop, but also for the grass to become at least a bit drier.

Croatian word order is flexible, but this version is natural and neutral.

Breakdown:

• dok = until
• se trava = the grass
• malo = a little
• ne osuši = dries

A close literal reading is:

until the grass a little dries

But in English we naturally say:

until the grass dries a little

The placement of se is also normal here: it usually comes early in the clause, often in the second position area.

Yes, often it could.

• dok ne prestane kiša...
• sve dok ne prestane kiša...

Both can mean until the rain stops.

Adding sve often makes the meaning a bit more emphatic or explicit, something like:

• right up until
• for as long as

So sve dok can sound slightly stronger or more deliberate, but in many contexts both are possible.

Yes, most naturally it describes a specific situation:

The children are staying inside until the rain stops and the grass dries a little.

Because Croatian uses present forms in this kind of future-looking context, the sentence can sound present in form but future or situational in meaning.

Without more context, a listener will usually understand it as:

• a current decision,
• or a near-future plan,
• not as a general timeless truth.

If you wanted a habitual meaning, the broader context would usually make that clear.

Yes, that is a very good way to analyze it.

Main clause:

• Djeca ostaju unutra
  = The children stay/will stay inside

First dependent clause:

• sve dok ne prestane kiša
  = until the rain stops

Second dependent clause:

• i dok se trava malo ne osuši
  = and until the grass dries a little

That is exactly how the sentence is built. Understanding that structure makes the grammar much easier.