Пускай ковш далеко, банщик всё равно поддаст пару.

Here пускай does not mean a command like let him or let it.

In this sentence, пускай introduces a concession:
пускай X, Y всё равно... = even if X, Y still... / granted that X, Y anyway...

So the pattern is roughly:

• Пускай ковш далеко = Even if the ladle is far away
• банщик всё равно поддаст пару = the bathhouse attendant will still make steam

This use of пускай is close to пусть. Both can work this way.

Russian often omits to be in the present tense.

So ковш далеко literally looks like:

• ковш = the ladle
• далеко = far away

But the real meaning is:

• The ladle is far away

English needs is, but Russian normally leaves it out in the present.

You could think of an unspoken находится or есть, but native Russian usually just says ковш далеко.

Ковш is in the nominative singular.

That is because it is the subject of the implied sentence:

• ковш далеко = the ladle is far away

So ковш is the thing being described as far away.

In this context, ковш is a ladle/dipper used in a banya or sauna setting, usually to pour water onto hot stones to create steam.

So this is not just any random scoop. In bathhouse vocabulary, ковш is a very normal word for that tool.

Банщик is a bathhouse attendant, especially in a traditional Russian banya.

Depending on context, a банщик may:

• manage the steam
• help bathers
• pour water onto stones
• handle sauna/bathhouse rituals

So this word carries a cultural association with the Russian bathhouse, not just a generic worker.

Всё равно here means still, anyway, or all the same.

It shows that the second part happens despite the first part.

So the logic is:

• Пускай ковш далеко = even if the ladle is far away
• банщик всё равно поддаст пару = the bathhouse attendant will do it anyway

This is a very common Russian phrase. It often marks persistence, indifference to an obstacle, or inevitability.

It is both literal and somewhat idiomatic.

In bathhouse language, поддать пару means to throw/add water onto the hot stones to produce more steam.

So in this sentence it is basically literal because the context is a банщик in a bathhouse.

But it is also a set expression, so learners should remember it as a chunk:

• поддать пару

Outside literal bathhouse contexts, similar expressions can sometimes be used figuratively to mean to intensify things or to spice things up, but here the bathhouse meaning is the important one.

This is a very useful question, because пару here is a special form.

With some masculine nouns, Russian can use a partitive form in -у / -ю to mean some amount of something.
Here:

• пар = steam
• пару = some steam

So поддать пару means something like to add some steam.

This -у form is often called the partitive or second genitive. It is not just an ordinary dictionary form you can always predict mechanically, but it appears in a number of common expressions.

So here пару is best learned as part of the fixed phrase поддать пару.

It looks like dative, but here it is usually explained as a partitive form: some steam.

That matters because the meaning is not to/for the steam. Instead, it is more like add some steam.

For learners, the safest takeaway is:

• do not analyze поддать пару as give to the steam
• learn it as a standard bathhouse expression meaning make/add steam

Поддаст is the perfective future of поддать.

Russian uses the perfective future when the speaker sees the action as a single complete act or a definite result.

Here the idea is:

• the bathhouse attendant will go ahead and do it
• he will produce that burst of steam

If you said будет поддавать, that would sound more like:

• he will be doing it repeatedly
• he will keep adding steam
• the action is ongoing or habitual

So поддаст is the natural choice for one definite act.

Yes, in this kind of sentence, пусть is often possible:

• Пусть ковш далеко, банщик всё равно поддаст пару.

The meaning stays very similar.

A rough nuance:

• пусть is very common and neutral
• пускай can sound a bit more colloquial or expressive

But both can introduce this even if / granted that idea.

It sounds a little proverb-like, witty, or folksy.

The structure:

• Пускай X, Y всё равно...

has a rhetorical feel, as if the speaker is brushing aside an obstacle:

• Never mind that the ladle is far away — the bathhouse attendant will manage anyway.

Because of the bathhouse vocabulary, it also feels culturally Russian and somewhat colorful rather than plain textbook prose.

Russian word order is flexible, but this version is natural because it highlights the contrast nicely:

• Пускай ковш далеко, ...
• банщик всё равно поддаст пару

This order sets up:

1. the obstacle
2. the person who overcomes it
3. the result

If you changed the order, the sentence could still be grammatical, but the emphasis would shift. The given version feels balanced and idiomatic.