Подсказка, будь то подсказка зала или друга, помогает.

Будь то is a fixed expression meaning be it, whether it be, or more naturally whether it's.

So in this sentence, it introduces two possible kinds of подсказка:

• будь то подсказка зала
• или друга

You can think of it as a set phrase:

• будь то X или Y = whether it is X or Y

Even though будь is formally the imperative of быть, in this construction it is best learned as one idiomatic chunk: будь то.

Because this part is a parenthetical insert: it interrupts the main sentence to clarify what kind of подсказка is meant.

The main structure is simply:

• Подсказка помогает. = A hint helps.

The middle part adds extra detail:

• будь то подсказка zала или друга = whether it's a hint from the audience or from a friend

Russian usually sets off this kind of inserted phrase with commas.

They are in the genitive because they depend on подсказка:

• подсказка зала = literally the audience's hint
• подсказка друга = a friend's hint

This is a common noun + noun pattern in Russian, where the second noun shows relationship, source, or possession.

So:

• зала is the genitive singular of зал
• друга is the genitive singular of друг

In smoother English, you would usually translate these as a hint from the audience and a hint from a friend, not word-for-word as the hall's hint or the friend's hint.

In Russian, зал literally means hall or auditorium, but it can also stand for the people in the hall, especially in TV, theater, or game-show language.

So подсказка зала is a well-known expression meaning something like:

• help from the audience
• the audience's suggestion/answer

This is especially recognizable from quiz-show contexts.

The repetition makes the structure clear and grammatical.

Here the alternatives are really two full noun phrases:

• подсказка зала
• подсказка друга

If you said будь то зала или друга, that would sound incomplete, because зала and друга by themselves are not the thing being compared; they are only dependents of подсказка.

A more compact alternative would be:

• Подсказка, будь то от зала или от друга, помогает.

Here от зала / от друга works because the preposition от clearly marks the source.

Because the subject is singular: подсказка.

The inserted phrase does not change the number of the subject. The sentence is still about one general idea:

• a hint helps

Even though two options are mentioned inside the parenthetical phrase, they are just examples of the same singular noun подсказка.

Yes, it is understandable and fairly natural, especially if подсказка зала is meant in the quiz-show sense.

That said, many speakers might also phrase it in slightly more everyday ways, for example:

• Подсказка, будь то от зала или от друга, помогает.
• Любая подсказка помогает, будь то от зала или от друга.

Why? Because от зала / от друга makes the idea of source a little more explicit.

So the original sentence is fine, but there are other very natural ways to say the same thing.

It is somewhat more literary or bookish than the most everyday conversational phrasing, but it is still common and perfectly normal.

For example:

• Это полезно, будь то дома или на работе.
• Он сохранял спокойствие, будь то в победе или в поражении.

So a learner should recognize and understand it well. It is a useful pattern, especially in writing or more polished speech.