Перед сном не стоит пить крепкий чай, если тебе не спится.

Before bed, it’s not worth drinking strong tea if you can’t sleep.

Breakdown of Перед сном не стоит пить крепкий чай, если тебе не спится.

• пить: to drink
• не: not
• если: if
• перед: before
• ты: you
• крепкий: strong
• стоить: to be worth
• сон: sleep
• спаться: to be able to sleep
• чай: tea

Questions & Answers about Перед сном не стоит пить крепкий чай, если тебе не спится.

Why does сон become сном in перед сном?

Because перед (before) requires the instrumental case.
So сон (nominative) → сном (instrumental): перед сном = before sleep / before going to bed.

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Does перед сном mean “before sleeping” or “before bed”?

Both are natural translations. In Russian it’s a common fixed phrase meaning before going to bed / at bedtime, not necessarily literally “right before you fall asleep.”

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What does не стоит literally mean, and why is it used here?

не стоит + infinitive is an impersonal way to say it’s not worth / it’s not advisable to…
It’s a soft, general recommendation:

• Не стоит пить… = You shouldn’t / It’s better not to drink…

It’s less direct than не пей (don’t drink) and often less strict than нельзя (it’s forbidden).

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Why is there no subject like ты in не стоит пить?

Because не стоит is commonly used without a grammatical subject (impersonal construction). The meaning is general: in this situation, it’s not a good idea to…
You can add a person if needed (less common), e.g. Тебе не стоит пить… = You shouldn’t drink…, but the subject is still not ты; it’s expressed as тебе (dative).

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Why is it пить and not выпить?

пить (imperfective) here is about the general action/habit: “to drink (in general) before bed.”
выпить (perfective) would sound more like to drink up / have a drink (once, a specific amount).

Compare:

• Перед сном не стоит пить крепкий чай. = Don’t drink strong tea before bed (as a rule).
• Перед сном не стоит выпить крепкий чай. = Not a great idea to have (a serving of) strong tea before bed.

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Why is it крепкий чай and not something like “strongly tea”?

Russian uses an adjective: крепкий = strong (about tea/coffee/alcohol).
So крепкий чай literally = strong tea.

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What case is крепкий чай and why?

It’s accusative, because пить takes a direct object.

For masculine inanimate nouns like чай, accusative = nominative, so it looks unchanged:

• nominative: крепкий чай
• accusative: крепкий чай

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Why does the sentence switch to тебе in если тебе не спится?

Because не спится is an impersonal construction that commonly takes a dative “experiencer”:

• мне не спится = I can’t sleep (lit. “to me, it doesn’t sleep”)
• тебе не спится = you can’t sleep

It expresses a state happening to someone, not a deliberate action.

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What is the difference between ты не спишь and тебе не спится?

• Ты не спишь = You are not sleeping (a more neutral factual statement; could be intentional).
• Тебе не спится = You can’t fall asleep / You’re having trouble sleeping (suggests involuntary inability, restlessness).

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Is спится a real verb form? What is it made from?

Yes. It comes from спать (to sleep) and uses the -ся form to create an impersonal “it sleeps (for someone)” idea:

• спать → спится (impersonal: “sleep comes / is possible”)

Most often used with negation:

• (мне) спится = I’m able to sleep / I’m sleeping well (less common)
• (мне) не спится = I can’t sleep (very common)

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Why is there не twice: не стоит and не спится?

They negate two different things:

• не стоит пить = it’s not advisable to drink
• не спится = sleep isn’t happening / you can’t sleep

So the sentence means: Don’t do X if Y is the case.

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Does если always mean “if,” and does it change word order?

Here если means if and introduces a conditional clause. Russian word order is flexible, but punctuation is standard: a comma separates the clauses:

• ..., если тебе не спится.

You can also put the если clause first:

• Если тебе не спится, перед сном не стоит пить крепкий чай.

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Who is the sentence talking to—general advice or a specific person?

It’s mostly general advice, but with a direct address in the condition:

• The main clause is impersonal/general: не стоит пить...
• The condition uses тебе (to you), so it sounds like advice to one person (informal you).

To make it fully general, you might see:

• ... если не спится. = if you can’t sleep (general)
• ... если вам не спится. = if you can’t sleep (formal/plural you)