Психолог советует смотреть на старые проблемы иначе.

The psychologist advises looking at old problems differently.

Breakdown of Психолог советует смотреть на старые проблемы иначе.

• на: at
• старый: old
• проблема: the problem
• смотреть: to look
• советовать: to advise
• психолог: the psychologist
• иначе: differently

Questions & Answers about Психолог советует смотреть на старые проблемы иначе.

What is the grammatical role of Психолог and what form is советует?

Психолог is the subject of the sentence: The psychologist.

советует is:

• 3rd person singular
• present tense
• from the verb советовать = to advise, to recommend

So literally: Психолог советует = The psychologist advises / is advising.

Why is смотреть in the infinitive? Why not смотрит or смотрите?

After verbs like советовать (to advise), Russian very often uses an infinitive to express what action is being advised:

• Психолог советует смотреть... = The psychologist advises to look... / advises looking...

If you use a personal form instead, you need to add чтобы and a separate subject:

• Психолог советует, чтобы мы смотрели на старые проблемы иначе.
  The psychologist advises that we look at old problems differently.

So:

• советует смотреть → verb + infinitive (more direct, neutral).
• советует, чтобы мы смотрели → verb + clause with чтобы (slightly more formal/explicit).

Why is it смотреть на the problems, and not some other preposition?

With the meaning to look at something, Russian uses смотреть на + accusative:

• смотреть на картину – to look at a picture
• смотреть на небо – to look at the sky
• смотреть на проблемы – to look at (the) problems

So на старые проблемы is required by смотреть на in this sense.

If you say думать о проблемах (to think about problems), you’d use о + prepositional, but смотреть specifically takes на + accusative.

What case are старые проблемы in, and why?

старые проблемы is in the accusative plural.

• Nominative plural: старые проблемы (old problems)
• Accusative plural (inanimate nouns): same form as nominative → старые проблемы

They’re in the accusative because they are the object of смотреть на (which takes на + accusative in this meaning).

Why is it старые проблемы, not старый проблемы or старые проблемам?

In Russian, adjectives agree with the noun in gender, number, and case.

• Noun: проблемы – feminine, plural, accusative (inanimate)
• Adjective must match: feminine, plural, accusative → старые

So:

• старый проблема – incorrect (gender and case don’t agree)
• старые проблемам – incorrect (dative plural, wrong case here)
• старые проблемы – correct (plural accusative, matching the noun after на)

What exactly does иначе mean, and can I replace it with something else?

иначе literally means differently, in another way, otherwise.

In this sentence:

• смотреть на старые проблемы иначе = to look at old problems differently / in a different way

Very close synonyms:

• по-другому – in another way (very common, neutral)
• по-новому – in a new way (more “newly”, a bit more positive/creative in nuance)

You could say:

• Психолог советует смотреть на старые проблемы по-другому.
• Психолог советует смотреть на старые проблемы по-новому.

All are natural; иначе is probably the most compact and slightly more “bookish” here.

Could the word order be Психолог советует иначе смотреть на старые проблемы? Is that different?

Yes, that word order is possible:

• Психолог советует смотреть на старые проблемы иначе.
• Психолог советует иначе смотреть на старые проблемы.

Both are grammatical and mean the same thing: The psychologist advises looking at old problems differently.

Nuance:

• Final иначе (original) sounds slightly more “wrapped up” at the end, a typical place for adverbs of manner.
• иначе before смотреть can add a tiny emphasis to “differently”: advises to *differently look at old problems* — but in everyday speech, the difference is very small.

Why is it смотреть, not посмотреть? What’s the aspect difference here?

смотреть is imperfective; посмотреть is perfective.

• смотреть – to look / to be looking (ongoing, process, general action)
• посмотреть – to take a look, look once / for a while (completed, one-time act)

Here the psychologist is talking about a general way of viewing your problems, an ongoing or habitual attitude, so imperfective смотреть is natural.

If you said:

• Психолог советует по-новому посмотреть на старые проблемы.

that would sound more like “to (once) take a fresh look at your old problems” – one act rather than a general approach.

How do I show who is being advised, like “advises us” or “advises you”?

You add a dative pronoun (or noun) after советует:

• Психолог советует нам смотреть на старые проблемы иначе.
  The psychologist advises us to look at old problems differently.

• Психолог советует вам смотреть на старые проблемы иначе.
  The psychologist advises you (plural/formal) to look at old problems differently.

• Психолог советует клиенту смотреть на старые проблемы иначе.
  The psychologist advises the client to look at old problems differently.

So the pattern is:
советует + кому? (dative) + что делать? (infinitive)

Can I use a чтобы-clause instead of the infinitive? How would that change the sentence?

Yes, you can say:

• Психолог советует, чтобы мы смотрели на старые проблемы иначе.

Structure:

• советует, чтобы + [subject] + [past-tense form used as subjunctive]

Meaning:

• Very close to English “advises that we (should) look…”

Nuance:

• With the infinitive (советует смотреть) the sentence feels a bit more direct and neutral.
• With чтобы мы смотрели, it sounds slightly more formal or “structured,” and it explicitly states the subject (мы).