Если не считать водорослей, налёт уже убрали.

Apart from the algae, the surface deposit has already been removed.

Breakdown of Если не считать водорослей, налёт уже убрали.

• уже: already
• убрать: to remove
• водоросли: the algae
• налёт: the surface deposit

Questions & Answers about Если не считать водорослей, налёт уже убрали.

Why does the sentence begin with Если не считать? Does it literally mean if not to count?

Yes, literally если не считать means something like if not to count or if we don’t count. But in real usage, this whole expression often works idiomatically as:

• except for
• not counting
• aside from

So in this sentence, Если не считать водорослей is not really a logical condition in the ordinary if... then... sense. It is more like an introductory phrase meaning except for the algae.

A very close English equivalent would be:

• Except for the algae, ...
• If you don’t count the algae, ...

Russian often uses если не считать + genitive this way.

Why is водорослей in the genitive case?

Because the expression не считать in this meaning commonly takes the genitive.

So:

• если не считать водорослей = if you don’t count / except for the algae

Here водорослей is the genitive plural form of водоросли.

This is something learners often just need to remember as part of the fixed expression:

• не считая + genitive
• если не считать + genitive

So the case is not random; it belongs to the construction.

What is the basic form of водорослей?