Котлеты уже почти готовы, их осталось только дожарить.

Not exactly.

In Russian, котлета often means a ground-meat patty or minced-meat cutlet, not necessarily a thin sliced piece of meat the way cutlet can mean in English. Depending on context, it could be something like:

• a meat patty
• a fried cutlet
• a croquette-style patty

Here котлеты is:

• plural
• nominative case
• the subject of the first part of the sentence

So the sentence is talking about the cutlets/patties being almost ready.

Because готовы is the short form of the adjective готовый.

Russian often uses:

• long-form adjectives like готовые
• short-form adjectives like готовы

The short form is very common when describing a temporary state or saying that something is ready / is finished / is glad / is sure, etc.

So:

• Котлеты готовы = The cutlets are ready
• готовы is the short-form plural adjective

If you used готовые, it would usually sound like an attributive adjective, as in:

• готовые котлеты = ready-made / ready cutlets

So in this sentence, готовы is the natural choice because it functions as the predicate: the cutlets are almost ready.

уже means already and почти means almost.

Together, уже почти means something like:

• already almost
• more naturally in English: almost already done / by now almost ready

In this sentence:

• уже adds the idea that the process has progressed quite far
• почти says it is not completely finished yet

So the combination emphasizes that the cutlets are very close to being ready.

Word by word:

• уже = already
• почти = almost
• готовы = ready

Russian often joins closely related clauses with just a comma, especially when the relationship is obvious from context.

Here the two parts are:

1. Котлеты уже почти готовы
2. их осталось только дожарить

These are very tightly connected in meaning, so Russian does not need a word equivalent to and.

You could think of it as:

• The cutlets are almost ready, only finishing the frying remains
• or more naturally: The cutlets are almost ready; they only need to be fried a bit more

Russian punctuation often allows this kind of comma where English might prefer:

• and
• a semicolon
• or a separate sentence

Because их is the direct object of дожарить.

Compare:

• они = they (subject form, nominative)
• их = them (object form, accusative/genitive)

In the second clause, the cutlets are not the subject of the verb дожарить. They are the thing that still needs to be finished frying.

So:

• их осталось только дожарить = it only remains to finish frying them

That is why Russian uses их, not они.

This is one of the most important grammar points in the sentence.

Here осталось is part of an impersonal construction:

• осталось + infinitive

This means:

• it remains to...
• all that is left is to...

So осталось is not really agreeing with котлеты. It is not saying the cutlets remained. Instead, it is saying that the remaining task is to do something.

Literally, the structure is close to:

• It remained only to finish frying them

That is why Russian uses the default impersonal form осталось:

• past tense
• singular
• neuter

You will see this pattern a lot:

• Осталось подождать. = All that remains is to wait.
• Мне осталось позвонить. = I still have to make a call / The only thing left for me is to call.

Because осталось commonly forms a construction with an infinitive to express what is left to do.

Pattern:

• осталось + infinitive

Examples:

• Осталось проверить отчёт. = It remains to check the report.
• Осталось только подписать. = It only remains to sign it.
• Их осталось только дожарить. = They only need to be finished frying.

This is a very useful everyday structure in Russian. It expresses that most of the process is complete, and only one final action is left.

дожарить means to finish frying or to fry until done.

It comes from:

• жарить = to fry (imperfective)
• дожарить = to fry to completion / finish frying (perfective)

The prefix до- often adds the idea of:

• doing something to the end
• finishing an action
• reaching the necessary result

So:

• жарить котлеты = to fry cutlets, to be frying cutlets
• пожарить котлеты = to fry cutlets (as a completed action, more general)
• дожарить котлеты = to finish frying the cutlets, fry them the rest of the way

In this sentence, дожарить is perfect because the cutlets are already almost ready. The speaker is not talking about starting to fry them, but about completing the frying.

Because только here means only and limits the remaining action.

So:

• их осталось только дожарить

means:

• they only need to be finished frying
• all that remains is just to finish frying them

The word только highlights that there is just one small final step left.

If you move только, the emphasis can shift slightly, but the meaning stays close. In this sentence, placing it before the infinitive is very natural because it modifies the action that remains.

Grammatically yes, but the meaning would be less precise.

• пожарить = to fry
• дожарить = to finish frying

Since the first clause says the cutlets are already almost ready, дожарить is the better choice. It shows that the frying process is already underway and just needs to be completed.

If you said их осталось только пожарить, it might sound more like the only thing left is to fry them, without clearly emphasizing that they are already partly fried.

So дожарить fits the context much better.

The word order is fairly natural, but Russian does have some flexibility.

The given order:

• Котлеты уже почти готовы, их осталось только дожарить.

sounds smooth and neutral.

You could also hear variants like:

• Котлеты почти уже готовы...
• Осталось только их дожарить.

But each version shifts emphasis slightly.

For example:

• их осталось только дожарить puts the cutlets first in the second clause
• осталось только их дожарить puts stronger focus on the idea that only one step remains

So the original word order is not the only possible one, but it is a very natural everyday way to say it.

It is neutral and very natural in everyday speech.

Nothing in it is especially formal, slangy, or literary. It sounds like something you could say:

• at home while cooking
• in a café kitchen
• in casual conversation

That makes it a good example of practical spoken Russian:

• уже почти готовы = very common
• осталось только... = extremely common
• дожарить = natural cooking vocabulary

So this is a useful sentence pattern to learn and reuse.