Если тостер не работает, лучше просто поджарить хлеб на сковороде.

Если means if and introduces a conditional clause.

So the sentence is structured like this:

• Если тостер не работает = If the toaster doesn’t work
• лучше просто поджарить хлеб на сковороде = it’s better to just fry/toast the bread in a pan

Russian normally uses a comma to separate this kind of if-clause from the main clause, just like English often does.

Yes. Работать very often means to work / to function when talking about machines and devices.

So:

• тостер работает = the toaster works / is functioning
• тостер не работает = the toaster doesn’t work / isn’t working

This is one of the most common ways to say that an appliance is broken or not functioning.

In Russian, лучше + infinitive is a very common way to say it’s better to...

So:

• лучше подождать = it’s better to wait
• лучше уйти = it’s better to leave
• лучше просто поджарить хлеб = it’s better to just toast/fry the bread

Russian often leaves out words that English needs, such as it is. The idea is understood from context.

This is about aspect.

• жарить = imperfective, focusing on the process or repeated action
• поджарить = perfective, focusing on getting the result

Here the speaker means a single completed action: toast/fry the bread and get it done. That is why поджарить sounds natural.

After лучше, both aspects can sometimes appear depending on meaning, but in this sentence the perfective fits well because the advice is about one practical action with a clear result.

Literally, поджарить means something like to brown, to fry lightly, or to toast.

With bread, it can mean:

• to toast it
• to brown it in a pan
• to fry it lightly

Since the sentence already mentions a toaster, the idea is clearly to make the bread toasted/browned, but using a frying pan instead.

Просто means just / simply.

In лучше просто поджарить хлеб, it modifies the action and adds the idea:

• just toast the bread
• simply toast the bread

Its position is flexible, but this placement sounds natural and common. It emphasizes that the solution is easy and straightforward.

Here хлеб is the direct object of поджарить.

For inanimate masculine nouns, the accusative singular is usually the same as the nominative singular.

So:

• nominative: хлеб
• accusative: хлеб

That’s why the form does not change.

By contrast, some other nouns do change in the accusative, especially feminine nouns or animate masculine nouns.

Сковороде is prepositional singular.

The dictionary form is сковорода.

Cases:

• nominative: сковорода
• prepositional: на сковороде

Because it comes after на in a location-type expression, Russian uses the prepositional case here.

This is mostly idiomatic.

Russian normally says:

• жарить на сковороде = to fry in/on a frying pan

Even though English often says in a pan, Russian uses на here.

So this is one of those combinations you mainly have to learn as a set phrase:

• на сковороде
• на огне
• на плите

Trying to translate the preposition literally from English often leads to mistakes.

Yes, in a sense. Russian often uses impersonal constructions.

The idea is not you should in a strongly explicit way, but more:

• it’s better to just toast the bread in a pan
• one should just toast the bread in a pan

The understood subject is general: you, one, or people in this situation.

This is very common in Russian advice and recommendations.

Yes. Russian word order is more flexible than English, although not completely free.

This sentence could be rearranged in ways like:

• Если тостер не работает, хлеб лучше просто поджарить на сковороде.
• Лучше просто поджарить хлеб на сковороде, если тостер не работает.

These versions are still grammatical, but the emphasis shifts slightly.

The original version sounds natural and neutral:

• first the condition
• then the recommendation

Because its dictionary form is тостер, and nouns ending in a consonant are usually masculine in Russian.

So:

• тостер
• новый тостер
• тостер не работает

This is a common gender pattern:

• телефон
• компьютер
• бутерброд

All of these are masculine too.

Yes, but the meaning changes a little.

• тостер не работает = the toaster doesn’t work / isn’t working
• тостер сломался = the toaster broke / is broken

Не работает is broader and more practical: the device is not functioning. Сломался more directly suggests that it has broken.

In everyday speech, both can work depending on context, but не работает is especially natural when talking about appliances that are failing to function.