Als het stil is, lukt het mij beter om me te concentreren.

Als can mean both if and when, depending on context.

In this sentence, Als het stil is means something like:

• If it is quiet
• When it is quiet

Both work in English, but the idea is general: whenever the surroundings are quiet, concentrating is easier.

A few useful comparisons:

• Als het regent, blijf ik thuis. = If/when it rains, I stay home.
• Toen ik jong was... = When I was young...
  (for a specific time in the past, Dutch usually uses toen, not als)

So here, als introduces a condition or general situation.

Because Als het stil is is a subordinate clause.

In Dutch, subordinate clauses usually send the finite verb to the end. So:

• main clause: Het is stil.
• subordinate clause: als het stil is

That is a very common Dutch pattern:

• Ik weet dat hij komt.
• Omdat het laat is, ga ik naar huis.
• Als ik tijd heb, bel ik je.

So is moves to the end because of als.

Both are possible in Dutch, but because the sentence begins with the subordinate clause Als het stil is, the main clause comes after it, and Dutch then uses inversion.

Normal main clause order:

• Het lukt mij beter om me te concentreren.

After a clause placed first:

• Als het stil is, lukt het mij beter om me te concentreren.

So the verb lukt comes before the subject het.

This is a core Dutch word order rule: if something other than the subject comes first, the finite verb comes next.

Examples:

• Vandaag werk ik thuis.
• Omdat ik moe ben, ga ik vroeg slapen.

Lukken means something like:

• to succeed
• to work out
• to manage successfully

But in Dutch it is often used in a structure that sounds unusual in English.

Het lukt mij om... literally feels like:

• It succeeds for me to...

Natural English would be:

• I manage to...
• I’m able to...
• It’s easier for me to...

So:

• Het lukt mij om me te concentreren.
  = I manage to concentrate.

With beter, it becomes:

• Het lukt mij beter om me te concentreren.
  = I can concentrate better. or = It’s easier for me to concentrate.

Because they do different jobs.

• mij belongs to het lukt mij
  = for me / to me
• me belongs to me concentreren
  = myself

So the structure is:

• het lukt mij = it works/succeeds for me
• me concentreren = to concentrate myself → just to concentrate

They may look similar, but they are not the same part of the sentence.

Breakdown:

• Als het stil is = if/when it is quiet
• lukt het mij beter = it works better for me / I do better
• om me te concentreren = to concentrate

Both mean me, but they differ in style and function.

• mij is the stressed/full form
• me is the unstressed/reduced form

In many sentences, me is more common in everyday speech:

• Hij ziet me.
• Geef me even tijd.

But mij often appears:

• for emphasis
• after prepositions in more careful style
• in certain fixed or slightly more formal patterns

In this sentence, het lukt mij beter sounds very natural.
You may also hear het lukt me beter, especially in speech.

So:

• Het lukt mij beter om me te concentreren.
• Het lukt me beter om me te concentreren.

Both are acceptable.

Because om ... te + infinitive is a very common Dutch way to express to + verb.

Here:

• om me te concentreren = to concentrate

This construction often appears after words like:

• moeilijk / difficult
• makkelijk / easy
• belangrijk / important
• lukken / succeed, manage

Examples:

• Het is moeilijk om Nederlands te leren.
• Ik probeer om op tijd te komen.
  (though Ik probeer op tijd te komen is also common)
• Het lukt hem niet om te slapen.

So in your sentence, om me te concentreren is the infinitive phrase connected to lukt.

Yes, in Dutch the usual verb is zich concentreren (op), which is reflexive.

So you say:

• Ik concentreer me.
• Jij concentreert je.
• Hij concentreert zich.

And with an infinitive:

• om me te concentreren
• om je te concentreren
• om zich te concentreren

Often you will also see op with what you are concentrating on:

• Ik concentreer me op mijn werk.
• Het lukt mij beter om me op mijn werk te concentreren.

English just says to concentrate, but Dutch usually needs the reflexive pronoun.

Because stil here is not being used before a noun. It is a predicate adjective, after zijn.

Compare:

• Het is stil. = the adjective comes after is
• een stille kamer = the adjective comes before the noun kamer

In Dutch, adjectives usually do not take the -e ending when they are used after verbs like zijn, worden, blijven:

• De kamer is stil.
• Het weer is mooi.
• Het boek is interessant.

But before a noun, they often do:

• de stille kamer
• het mooie weer
• het interessante boek

So het is stil is completely correct.

Beter means better, but Dutch often uses it without saying exactly what it is being compared with, just like English.

So Het lukt mij beter om me te concentreren means:

• I concentrate better
• It works better for me to concentrate
• I can concentrate better than in other circumstances

The comparison is implied: better than when it is not quiet, better than before, better than under other conditions, etc.

This is very natural in both Dutch and English.

In both parts of the sentence, het is basically a dummy subject.

1. Als het stil is

   • het is stil = it is quiet
   • English also uses dummy it

2. het lukt mij beter om me te concentreren

   • het is again a formal/dummy subject
   • the real content is in om me te concentreren

So Dutch uses het in a similar way to English it in expressions like:

• It is raining.
• It is difficult.
• It works better for me to...

Yes, absolutely. That is a very natural alternative.

• Als het stil is, lukt het mij beter om me te concentreren.
• Als het stil is, kan ik me beter concentreren.

The second version is simpler and more direct:

• kan ik me beter concentreren = I can concentrate better

The original sentence with lukken has a slightly different feel:

• a bit more about managing or succeeding
• a bit less direct than can

So both are correct, but the nuance is slightly different.

Yes. In everyday Dutch, Het lukt me beter om me te concentreren is very common.

So these are both fine:

• Het lukt mij beter om me te concentreren.
• Het lukt me beter om me te concentreren.

The version with mij may sound a little more careful or slightly more emphatic, depending on context. In casual speech, me is very common.

A useful breakdown is:

• Als = if/when
• het stil is = it is quiet
• lukt = succeeds / works
• het = it
• mij = for me / to me
• beter = better
• om = to
• me te concentreren = to concentrate

Very literally:

• If it is quiet, it succeeds for me better to concentrate myself.

That sounds unnatural in English, but it helps show how Dutch builds the sentence.

Natural English:

• When it’s quiet, I can concentrate better.
• If it’s quiet, it’s easier for me to concentrate.