Learn Hardcore Russian: Когда я мало сплю, я тоже становлюсь злым и начинаю спорить со всеми. - When I sleep little, I also become angry and start arguing with everyone.

мало сплю = I sleep too little / not enough (there is a feeling of insufficiency, a problem)
немного сплю = I sleep a little / a bit (more neutral, just a small amount)

So:

Когда я мало сплю… = When I don’t get enough sleep… (there’s a negative consequence)
Когда я немного сплю… would sound more like When I sleep a bit… (no strong “not enough” idea)

Не много сплю is grammatically possible but unusual here; usually you’d just say мало сплю for “I don’t sleep much.”

Could I say я сплю мало instead of я мало сплю? Is there any difference?

Both are correct and mean practically the same thing: I don’t sleep much / I sleep too little.

Я мало сплю – the focus is slightly more on how much you sleep (the small quantity).
Я сплю мало – the focus is slightly more on the action of sleeping with the detail that it’s “little.”

In everyday speech, they’re interchangeable; any difference in nuance is very subtle.
In this sentence, you could say:

Когда я сплю мало, я тоже становлюсь злым… – perfectly fine.

Why is everything in the present tense (сплю, становлюсь, начинаю) even though it describes a general situation?

Russian uses the present tense to talk about:

habitual actions
general truths
repeated situations

Exactly like the English Present Simple (When I don’t sleep much, I get angry and start arguing…).

So:

Когда я мало сплю, я тоже становлюсь злым…
literally: When I sleep little, I also become angry…

It doesn’t mean it’s happening right now; it means whenever / every time this condition is true.

What is the difference between тоже and также here? Could I say я также становлюсь злым?

Both тоже and также can translate as also / too, but:

тоже is more informal and common in speech, especially for “I too”, “me too”.
также is a bit more formal / bookish, often used in writing.

In this sentence:

я тоже становлюсь злым – perfectly natural, conversational Russian.
я также становлюсь злым – grammatically correct, but sounds more written or formal.

Everyday spoken Russian strongly prefers тоже here.

Why is the verb становлюсь reflexive (with -сь)?

Становлюсь comes from становиться “to become,” which is reflexive:

становиться → становлюсь (I become)

Many Russian verbs that mean “to become / to turn into / to get (a certain state)” are reflexive:

становиться врачом – to become a doctor
становиться лучше – to become better
становиться злым – to become angry

The reflexive ending -ся / -сь often indicates:

a change of state
something happening to the subject itself (I myself become something)

There is also a non‑reflexive ставить / поставить (“to put, to place”), but that’s a different verb.

Why is it становлюсь злым (with злым) and not становлюсь злой?

Because in Russian, after the verbs быть, становиться, стать (to be, to become), the predicate noun/adjective is usually in the instrumental case when it means “become / turn into a state”.

становлюсь (кем? каким?) злым – instrumental masculine singular of злой

Patterns:

Я становлюсь злым. – I become angry.
Я стану врачом. – I will become a doctor.
Она стала грустной. – She became sad.
Они стали друзьями. – They became friends.

So:

злой – nominative masculine (dictionary form)
злым – instrumental masculine (as what? in what state? → “angry” as the result state)

Using становлюсь злой (nominative) sounds incorrect in standard Russian in this meaning.

What is the nuance of злой here? Is it the same as “angry,” or more like “evil”?

Злой can mean both, depending on context:

Angry, irritable, in a bad mood – common in everyday speech:
- Когда я мало сплю, я становлюсь злым.
  = I get angry / I become irritable when I don’t sleep much.
Mean, malicious, evil – describing a person’s character:
- Он очень злой человек. – He is a very mean / malicious person.

Here, with lack of sleep and arguing with everyone, the natural reading is “angry, irritable”, not “evil.”

Other options you might hear for “angry”:

сердитый – angry, annoyed
раздражённый – irritated

But злой is totally normal and common in this context.

Why is it спорить со всеми and not со всех or со всем?

The verb спорить (to argue) takes с + instrumental case to express “argue with someone”:

спорить с кем? – with whom?
- с другом – with a (male) friend
- с мамой – with mom
- со всеми – with everyone

The pronoun все (“everyone”) in instrumental plural is всеми:

Nom: все – everyone
Gen: всех
Dat: всем
Acc: всех
Instr: всеми
Prep: обо всех

So:

со всеми = with everyone (с + всеми, instrumental)
со всех / со всем would be wrong after спорить.

Correct pattern: спорить с кем? – спорить со всеми.

Why is it со всеми and not just с всеми?

Russian uses со (an extended form of с) for euphony / ease of pronunciation in certain situations:

before some words starting with two consonants, especially when the first is в, ф, с, з
before words like мной, мной, мной etc.

So:

со мной (not с мной)
со всеми (not с всеми)
со вчерашнего дня (not с вчерашнего дня)

It doesn’t change the meaning at all; it’s purely a phonetic convenience.

What is the nuance of спорить here? Is it more like “to discuss” or “to quarrel”?

Спорить generally means:

to argue, dispute, contradict someone
it can be neutral (debate, discuss different opinions) or negative (quarrel), depending on tone and context.

In this sentence:

…и начинаю спорить со всеми.
= and I start arguing with everyone.

Given that the person is злой (angry), спорить here sounds more like:

“to argue / pick fights / contradict everyone”

If you wanted a stronger “quarrel/fight” meaning, you might use:

ругаться – to swear / quarrel
ссориться – to quarrel, to fall out

But спорить со всеми already clearly suggests annoying argumentative behavior with everyone.