Если лампочка не работает, её лучше поменять.

Если means if.

So Если лампочка не работает... literally means If the light bulb doesn’t work...

This is a very common way to introduce a condition in Russian, just like in English:

• Если будет дождь, мы останемся дома. — If it rains, we’ll stay home.
• Если ты устал, отдохни. — If you’re tired, rest.

Also notice the comma: in Russian, a clause beginning with если is normally separated by a comma.

Because the sentence has two parts:

1. Если лампочка не работает — the if clause
2. её лучше поменять — the main clause

Russian normally separates these with a comma:

• Если X, Y.

This is very similar to English writing:

• If the bulb doesn’t work, it’s better to replace it.

Лампочка usually means light bulb.

By contrast, лампа more often means lamp as an object or fixture, though in some contexts it can also refer to a bulb. For a learner, the safest distinction is:

• лампа = lamp
• лампочка = light bulb

The ending -очк- makes it a diminutive form historically, but in modern everyday Russian лампочка is the normal, neutral word for light bulb.

Russian often uses не работает — doesn’t work / isn’t working — for things like devices, appliances, or bulbs.

So:

• Лампочка не работает. — The bulb doesn’t work.
• Телефон не работает. — The phone doesn’t work.
• Лифт не работает. — The elevator isn’t working.

You can say something like сломалась for many objects, but for a light bulb не работает is very natural and common.

Because её is the form of она used for a direct object.

Here, the bulb is the thing being replaced:

• поменять её — to replace it

Forms:

• она = she / it (subject form)
• её = her / it (object form)

So:

• Она не работает. — It doesn’t work.
• Её лучше поменять. — It’s better to replace it.

Since лампочка is feminine in Russian, the pronoun is feminine too.

Yes. Both её and ее are seen in writing.

• её shows the correct stress and pronunciation more clearly
• ее is a common spelling when people omit ё

In careful teaching materials, dictionaries, and learner texts, you will often see ё written explicitly. In everyday Russian texts, ё is often replaced by е, so ее is very common too.

Pronunciation is still like ye-YO for её.

Here лучше means better in the sense of it’s better to or you’d better.

So:

• её лучше поменять = it’s better to replace it / you’d better replace it

This is a very common Russian pattern:

• Тебе лучше отдохнуть. — You’d better rest.
• Лучше подождать. — It’s better to wait.

Russian often leaves out words like it is in this kind of sentence. English needs them, Russian doesn’t.

Because Russian often uses impersonal constructions without an explicit subject like it.

Literally, её лучше поменять is something like:

• her/it better to-replace

But natural English is:

• It’s better to replace it
• You’d better replace it

Russian does this very often:

• Лучше уйти. — It’s better to leave.
• Нужно работать. — It’s necessary to work.
• Можно войти? — Is it possible to come in? / May I come in?

So the missing it is is completely normal.

Because поменять is perfective, and менять is imperfective.

Here the speaker means replace it once, as a complete action. That is exactly what the perfective verb is for.

• менять = to change/replace in general, repeatedly, or as a process
• поменять = to change/replace once, successfully, to completion

So in this sentence:

• её лучше поменять = it’s better to replace it

If you said менять here, it would sound less natural because the idea is not an ongoing process; it is a single practical action.

Yes, absolutely.

• её лучше поменять
• её лучше заменить

Both can mean it’s better to replace it.

The difference is mainly stylistic:

• поменять is very common and conversational
• заменить can sound a little more formal or technical

For a light bulb, поменять is very natural in everyday speech.

Not exactly, but it is often close in meaning.

• лучше поменять = it’s better to replace it / you’d better replace it
• should replace is often translated with следует заменить or sometimes just expressed more naturally in Russian with лучше

In everyday speech, Russian often prefers лучше where English might use should:

• Тебе лучше пойти домой. — You should go home / You’d better go home.

So in real usage, лучше поменять often functions much like a mild recommendation.

Yes, the word order can vary somewhat.

Standard version:

• Если лампочка не работает, её лучше поменять.

You could also hear:

• Если лампочка не работает, лучше её поменять.

Both are natural. Russian word order is more flexible than English, and moving лучше or её slightly can change emphasis, but not the core meaning.

The original sentence is very normal and clear.

A helpful stress guide is:

Е́сли ла́мпочка не рабо́тает, её́ лу́чше поменя́ть.

Approximate pronunciation:

• Если — YES-li
• лампочка — LAM-puh-chka
• не работает — nee ra-BO-ta-yet
• её — yi-YO
• лучше — LOOCH-she
• поменять — pa-mi-NYAT'

A couple of useful notes:

• его / её often sound like yevo / yeye-yo historically in related forms, but её here is essentially yi-YO
• чш in лучше is pronounced like shsh, so LOOSH-she is a rough guide

Yes. It is completely natural, neutral everyday Russian.

It sounds like a normal practical statement:

• Если лампочка не работает, её лучше поменять.

It is neither too formal nor too slangy. A native speaker could easily say this in everyday conversation, in instructions, or while giving advice.