Пожалуйста, налей мне чай.

Here пожалуйста means please.

It makes the request more polite. Russian often uses the imperative together with пожалуйста for normal polite requests:

• Скажите, пожалуйста... = Please tell me...
• Дайте, пожалуйста... = Please give me...

So Пожалуйста, налей мне чай is a polite request, not a harsh command.

Налить is the infinitive, meaning to pour.

Налей is the imperative form, meaning pour! or please pour.

So:

• налить = to pour
• налей = pour!

In this sentence, the speaker is asking someone to do the action, so Russian uses the imperative: налей.

This is about aspect.

• налей comes from налить, which is perfective
• наливай comes from наливать, which is imperfective

In requests like this, Russian often uses the perfective imperative when the speaker wants one complete action/result:

• Налей мне чай. = pour me some tea / pour me tea

It focuses on the completed result: the tea gets poured.

Наливай can sound more like:

• start pouring
• keep pouring
• go ahead and pour

So налей is the most natural choice for a simple one-time request.

Мне is the dative case of я.

• я = I
• мне = to me / for me

In Russian, the person who receives something is often in the dative:

• Дай мне книгу. = Give me the book.
• Покажи мне фото. = Show me the photo.
• Налей мне чай. = Pour me tea.

So мне marks the person the tea is being poured for.

Чай is the direct object of налей.

For an inanimate masculine singular noun, the accusative often looks exactly the same as the nominative. So:

• nominative: чай
• accusative: чай

That is why the word does not change form here.

So even though it is the object, it still appears as чай.

Yes, you can.

Russian sometimes uses a partitive/genitive-like form with foods and drinks to mean some of something:

• выпить чаю
• налить супу
• купить сыру

So Налей мне чаю means roughly Pour me some tea.

Compared with Налей мне чай:

• Налей мне чай = very common and neutral
• Налей мне чаю = also natural, but can sound a bit more traditional, conversational, or more explicitly some tea

For a learner, Налей мне чай is perfectly good and easy to use.

No, not necessarily.

Russian can simply say налей мне чай, just like English can say pour me tea. The container is often understood from context.

If you want to be specific, you can add it:

• Налей мне чай в чашку. = Pour me tea into a cup.
• Налей мне чашку чая. = Pour me a cup of tea.

But in everyday speech, leaving that out is very normal.

No, Russian word order is fairly flexible.

Пожалуйста, налей мне чай is a normal, natural order.

Other possible orders include:

• Налей мне чай, пожалуйста.
• Налей, пожалуйста, мне чай.

These all mean basically the same thing, but the emphasis can shift slightly.

A good beginner rule is:

• use Пожалуйста, налей мне чай
• or Налей мне чай, пожалуйста

Both sound natural.

Yes, in many situations it is polite enough, especially with family, friends, or in informal settings.

Because it uses the imperative, it is still fairly direct. Пожалуйста softens it.

If you want to sound more indirect or extra polite, Russian often uses other patterns, for example:

• Можно мне чай, пожалуйста? = Could I have some tea, please?
• Не могли бы вы налить мне чай? = Could you pour me some tea?

So your sentence is polite, but not the most formal possible version.

The main stresses are:

• пожа́луйста
• нале́й
• чай

So roughly:

пожа́луйста, нале́й мне чай

A very approximate English-style guide would be:

pa-ZHA-luysta, na-LYEY mnye chay

A few notes:

• мне is pronounced something like mnye
• чай rhymes roughly with English my, but starts with ch
• ей in налей sounds like ey in they, but shorter and cleaner

If you say the stressed syllables clearly, you will already sound much better.