Хотя коридор и тесный, туда всё-таки поместился узкий шкаф глубиной в полметра.

This is a very common Russian pattern.

Хотя ... и ... means something like:

• although ...
• even though ...
• although it is true that ...

So:

Хотя коридор и тесный...
= Although the hallway is narrow/cramped...

The и does not mean a normal and here. It adds a concessive nuance and makes the contrast sound more natural.

You can compare:

• Хотя коридор тесный, ... — correct
• Хотя коридор и тесный, ... — also correct, and often more idiomatic, with a stronger granted that / even though feel

So in this sentence, и helps emphasize:
Yes, the corridor is cramped, but despite that...

Both are possible in Russian, but they are used a bit differently.

• тесный = long form adjective
• тесен = short form adjective

In predicate position, Russian can use either form depending on style and nuance.

Here:

коридор тесный
sounds natural and conversational.

If you said:

Хотя коридор и тесен...
that would also be correct, but it sounds a bit more literary or formal.

For many learners, it is useful to remember:

• long form adjectives in predicates are very common in everyday speech
• short form adjectives often sound more bookish, formal, or stylistically marked

So тесный here is normal and natural.

They are close, but not identical.

тесный

Usually means:

• cramped
• tight
• confined
• too small for comfort

It often suggests lack of space.

So:

тесный коридор
= a corridor that feels cramped or tight

узкий

Usually means:

• narrow in physical width

So:

узкий шкаф
= a wardrobe/cabinet that is not wide

In this sentence, the contrast is very logical:

• the corridor is тесный = cramped/tight
• the wardrobe is узкий = narrow/slim

So the idea is:
Even though the corridor is cramped, a slim cabinet still fit there.

Because Russian distinguishes between:

• там = there (location: at/in that place)
• туда = to there / into there (direction, destination)

The verb поместился implies successful placement or fitting into that space, not just existence in that space.

So:

• там поместился would focus more on being there
• туда поместился focuses on fitting into that place

In English we usually just say fit there, but Russian often prefers directional wording in contexts of movement or placement.

A rough sense is:

туда всё-таки поместился
= it still managed to fit in there

Всё-таки means:

• still
• nevertheless
• all the same
• despite that

It emphasizes that the result happened in spite of an obstacle.

So the sentence structure is:

• the corridor is cramped
• and yet
• the cabinet still fit there

Without всё-таки, the sentence would still be grammatical:

Хотя коридор и тесный, туда поместился узкий шкаф...

But всё-таки makes the contrast clearer and stronger.

It gives the sentence the feeling of:
surprisingly, despite everything, it did fit.

Поместился is the past masculine singular form of поместиться.

Here it means:

• fit
• fit into a space
• be accommodated

So:

шкаф поместился
= the cabinet fit

Breakdown

• по- often gives a perfective/resultative meaning
• мест is related to place
• -ся makes it reflexive, but here you should learn the whole verb as a unit: поместиться = to fit / to be accommodated

This is an intransitive use: the cabinet itself fit.

Compare:

• Мы поместили шкаф в коридор.
  = We placed the cabinet in the corridor.
  (поместили = transitive, “put/placed”)

• Шкаф поместился в коридоре / туда.
  = The cabinet fit in the corridor / there.
  (поместился = intransitive, “fit”)

Because the subject is шкаф, and шкаф is:

• masculine
• singular

In the past tense, Russian verbs agree with gender and number.

So:

• шкаф поместился — masculine singular
• полка поместилась — feminine singular
• окно поместилось — neuter singular
• шкафы поместились — plural

This is one of the big differences from English: past tense verbs in Russian show gender in the singular.

This is a very useful Russian pattern.

глубиной в полметра literally means:
with a depth of half a meter

Grammar

The word глубиной is instrumental case of глубина.

Russian often uses nouns like this in the instrumental to describe measurements:

• высотой ... = of a height ...
• шириной ... = of a width ...
• длиной ... = of a length ...
• глубиной ... = of a depth ...

So:

• шкаф глубиной в полметра
  = a cabinet half a meter deep

This is a compact descriptive phrase attached to шкаф.

Similar examples:

• дом высотой в десять метров = a house ten meters high
• стол шириной в метр = a table one meter wide
• яма глубиной в два метра = a pit two meters deep

In expressions of size or measurement, Russian often uses:

• в + measure

Examples:

• в метр шириной = one meter wide
• в два метра высотой = two meters high
• глубиной в полметра = half a meter deep

This в is part of a fixed measurement pattern. It does not mean ordinary in here.

So you should learn phrases like:

• ростом в два метра = two meters tall
• шириной в пять сантиметров = five centimeters wide
• длиной в километр = one kilometer long

It is a normal Russian way to express dimensions.

Yes, полметра means half a meter.

It comes from пол- + a noun:

• полметра = half a meter
• полчаса = half an hour
• полкилограмма = half a kilogram

In this sentence it most naturally means a literal depth of half a meter.

Yes, depth and width are different dimensions.

That is exactly why the sentence gives both pieces of information:

• узкий шкаф = a narrow/slim cabinet
• глубиной в полметра = with a depth of half a meter

So the cabinet is being described in more detail. It is narrow, and specifically its depth is half a meter.

This helps explain why it could fit in a cramped corridor.

Yes. Шкаф is a broad word.

Depending on context, it can mean:

• wardrobe
• cabinet
• cupboard
• closet-like storage unit

In this sentence, wardrobe or cabinet are both possible, depending on the exact furniture being imagined.

So a learner should not assume шкаф always means only a clothes wardrobe.

The sentence is:

Хотя коридор и тесный, туда всё-таки поместился узкий шкаф глубиной в полметра.

Russian word order is flexible, and this order sounds natural because it presents the idea in a clear progression:

1. Хотя коридор и тесный — concession/background
2. туда — the place it fit into
3. всё-таки — contrast: nevertheless
4. поместился — the result
5. узкий шкаф... — the thing that fit

In more neutral English-like order, you might imagine:

Хотя коридор и тесный, узкий шкаф глубиной в полметра всё-таки поместился туда.

That would also be understandable in Russian, but the original version foregrounds туда and the surprising fact that something managed to fit there.

So the word order helps create emphasis and flow, not a different basic meaning.

Yes, depending on how explicitly you want to phrase it.

Possible alternatives:

• в коридоре всё-таки поместился...
• в коридор всё-таки поместился...
• туда всё-таки поместился...

But they are not identical in feel.

туда

Refers back naturally to the corridor and emphasizes direction/placement into that space.

в коридоре

Focuses more on location: in the corridor

в коридор

Can sound directional: into the corridor

The original туда is elegant because it avoids repeating коридор and keeps the sentence flowing smoothly.

Grammatically, the sentence focuses on the result:

the cabinet fit there

It does not explicitly say who put it there.

Russian often uses поместиться when the important point is whether something could fit in a space, not who moved it.

So the sentence is about spatial possibility/result, not the action of a person.

If you wanted to mention the people doing it, you might say something like:

Мы всё-таки поместили туда узкий шкаф...
= We still managed to put a narrow cabinet there...

That would shift the focus to the people’s action.

The sentence has a concessive, slightly surprising tone:

• The corridor is cramped.
• Even so, a slim cabinet half a meter deep still fit there.

The key markers of this nuance are:

• Хотя ... и ... = although / even though
• всё-таки = nevertheless / still
• поместился = managed to fit / fit successfully

So the sentence does not just state a fact. It highlights a mildly unexpected result.