U predsoblju sada držimo kišobrane, a u ostavi sve što ne stane u kuhinju.

Because u can take two different cases in Croatian:

• u + locative = location, in / inside
• u + accusative = direction or movement into

So here:

• u predsoblju = in the hallway / entryway → location
• u ostavi = in the pantry / storage room → location
• u kuhinju = into the kitchen → the idea is fit into the kitchen

That is why kuhinju is accusative, while predsoblju and ostavi are locative.

A useful contrast:

• u kuhinji = in the kitchen
• u kuhinju = into the kitchen

Držimo is the 1st person plural present tense of držati.

So it means we keep, we hold, or we store, depending on context.

Here it means we keep/store.

Breakdown:

• infinitive: držati
• ja držim = I keep
• mi držimo = we keep

Because kišobrane is the accusative plural, and it is the direct object of držimo.

We ask:

• Što držimo? = What do we keep?
• Kišobrane. = Umbrellas.

For kišobran:

• nominative plural: kišobrani
• accusative plural: kišobrane

So:

• Kišobrani su ovdje. = The umbrellas are here.
• Držimo kišobrane u predsoblju. = We keep the umbrellas in the hallway.

Because Croatian often omits a repeated verb when it is easy to understand from the first clause.

The full version would be:

U predsoblju sada držimo kišobrane, a u ostavi držimo sve što ne stane u kuhinju.

But repeating držimo is unnecessary, so it is left out.

This kind of omission is very common and natural.

Here a is a coordinating conjunction, but it is not exactly the same as a plain English and.

It often means something like:

• and
• while
• whereas
• as for
• but (very mildly, in contrastive contexts)

In this sentence, a introduces a contrast or comparison between two places:

• in the entryway, we keep umbrellas
• in the pantry, we keep everything that doesn’t fit in the kitchen

So a helps set up that contrast.

Sve što means everything that or all that.

It is made of:

• sve = everything / all
• što = that / which / what, introducing a relative clause

So:

• sve što ne stane u kuhinju = everything that doesn’t fit into the kitchen

This is a very common pattern in Croatian:

• Sve što znam = Everything that I know
• Sve što vidiš = Everything that you see
• Sve što ne stane u kuhinju = Everything that doesn’t fit in the kitchen

Grammatically, sve is treated as neuter singular, but its meaning is collective: everything / all things.

So even though it refers to many things, Croatian uses this singular-looking form.

In this sentence, sve is the object of the omitted držimo, so it is in the accusative — but sve has the same form here.

This is normal:

• Sve je spremno. = Everything is ready.
• Imamo sve. = We have everything.

Here stane comes from stati, and it means fit or go into in the sense of capacity.

So:

• ne stane u kuhinju = doesn’t fit into the kitchen

That may feel surprising if you know stati mainly as to stand, to stop, or to step in some contexts. Croatian verbs often have several related meanings, and stati is one of them.

In everyday Croatian, stati is very common for physical capacity:

• To ne stane u torbu. = That won’t fit in the bag.
• Koliko ljudi stane u auto? = How many people fit in the car?

In this sentence, ne stane is the natural choice for won’t fit / doesn’t fit in the sense of capacity.

Croatian commonly uses stati in this way when talking about whether something can fit into a space.

So:

• sve što ne stane u kuhinju = everything that won’t fit / doesn’t fit in the kitchen

For a learner, the safest takeaway is:

• with physical capacity, stati / stane is very common and natural

If you try to use stajati, it may sound less natural here, or it may suggest other meanings of stajati such as stand, be located, be written, etc.

Sada means now, but in a sentence like this it often means nowadays, at the moment, or under the current arrangement, not necessarily right this second.

So it suggests a change or a new arrangement:

• before, maybe the umbrellas were somewhere else
• now, they are kept in the entryway

It gives the sentence a sense of current practice.

Yes. Croatian word order is fairly flexible.

For example, you could also say:

Sada držimo kišobrane u predsoblju, a sve što ne stane u kuhinju u ostavi.

That would still be understandable.

But the original order:

U predsoblju sada držimo kišobrane, a u ostavi sve što ne stane u kuhinju.

puts the two places, u predsoblju and u ostavi, in prominent positions. That makes the contrast between the two locations especially clear.

So the original wording is natural because it highlights where things are kept.

These are both home-related nouns, but they do not map perfectly onto one single English word in every context.

• predsoblje = entry hall, hallway, foyer, vestibule
  It is the space near the entrance of a home.

• ostava = pantry, storage room, utility closet, store room
  It is a place where things are stored.

The exact English translation depends on the type of home, but grammatically they behave like ordinary nouns:

• predsoblje is neuter
• ostava is feminine

That is why the locative forms are:

• u predsoblju
• u ostavi