Сделай мне одолжение.

Сделай is the imperative singular form of сделать, which is a perfective verb meaning to do / to make in the sense of completing something.

So Сделай мне одолжение literally means something like Do me a favor.

A learner often notices that Russian has both делать and сделать:

• делать = to do, to be doing, to do in general
• сделать = to do and complete

In requests like this, Russian often uses the perfective imperative when asking for a single completed action.

Because делай comes from делать (imperfective), and that usually sounds different in tone.

Compare:

• Сделай мне одолжение = Do me a favor / please do this one thing for me
• Делай... = more like be doing, do it repeatedly, or sometimes a rough command depending on context

For a one-time request, сделай is the natural choice.

Мне is the dative case of я (I).

Forms of я:

• nominative: я
• accusative/genitive: меня
• dative: мне
• instrumental: мной
• prepositional: мне

In this sentence, мне means for me or to me. Russian commonly uses the dative for the person who receives the benefit of an action.

So:

• Сделай мне одолжение = Do a favor for me

Одолжение is the noun meaning favor. Here it is in the accusative singular because it is the direct object of сделай.

This noun is:

• neuter
• inanimate

For many neuter inanimate nouns, the accusative singular looks the same as the nominative singular.

So:

• nominative: одолжение
• accusative: одолжение

That is why the word does not change.

It depends on tone and relationship.

Сделай is the informal singular imperative, so you would use it with:

• a friend
• a family member
• a child
• someone you address with ты

If you want the polite or plural version, use:

• Сделайте мне одолжение.

Also, even in English, Do me a favor can sound either friendly or slightly sharp depending on tone. Russian is similar. The words themselves are not automatically rude, but intonation matters a lot.

A very common way is to add пожалуйста:

• Сделай мне одолжение, пожалуйста.
• Сделайте мне одолжение, пожалуйста.

That makes the request clearly more polite.

You can also soften it with a different structure, for example:

• Можешь сделать мне одолжение? = Can you do me a favor?
• Не мог бы ты сделать мне одолжение? = Could you do me a favor?

These often sound gentler than a direct imperative.

In this expression, yes: сделать одолжение means to do someone a favor.

It is a fixed and very common combination:

• сделать одолжение кому-то = to do someone a favor

A learner may notice that the word looks related to verbs like одолжить. Historically there is a connection, but in modern Russian you should learn сделать одолжение as a set phrase meaning do a favor.

Both can mean Do me a favor, but they are different in style.

• Сделай мне одолжение = common, everyday, natural
• Окажи мне услугу = more formal, bookish, or old-fashioned in many contexts

For normal conversation, Сделай мне одолжение is much more likely.

Yes, Russian word order is flexible, though the neutral order here is:

• Сделай мне одолжение.

Other orders are possible, but they change emphasis:

• Мне сделай одолжение = stronger emphasis on for me
• Одолжение мне сделай = marked, unusual, very emphatic

For learners, the standard version is best unless you have a specific reason to move words around.

The stress is:

• сде́лай мне́ одолже́ние

A rough pronunciation guide:

• сде́лай ≈ ZDYE-lai
• мне́ ≈ mnye
• одолже́ние ≈ a-dal-ZHE-ni-ye

A few helpful points:

• сд at the beginning of сделай is pronounced together
• мне begins with a consonant cluster, so learners often need practice there
• the stressed syllable in одолжение is же́

Use the plural/formal imperative:

• Сделайте мне одолжение.

Russian uses the same plural verb form for:

• speaking to several people
• speaking politely to one person

So:

• Сделай... = informal singular
• Сделайте... = plural or polite singular