Сколько ни смотри на лужайку, маленький воробей всё равно быстро прячется в траве.

The pattern сколько ни + verb means something like:

• no matter how much ...
• however much ...
• even if you keep ...

So Сколько ни смотри на лужайку... means:

• No matter how much you look at the lawn...
• However long you look at the lawn...

This is a very common Russian construction with ни to express that the result does not change despite repeated effort.

Similar examples:

• Сколько ни объясняй, он не понимает. = No matter how much you explain, he does not understand.
• Как ни старайся, не получится. = However hard you try, it will not work.

Not really. Although смотри is formally the imperative singular of смотреть, in this kind of construction it does not function as a literal command.

In expressions like:

• сколько ни смотри
• как ни старайся
• что ни говори

Russian often uses the imperative form in a generalized meaning. It is closer to:

• however much one looks
• no matter how hard you try
• whatever you say

So here смотри does not mean look! as a direct instruction. It is part of a fixed grammatical pattern.

Because ни is used in concessive patterns like this one, where the idea is:

• no matter how much
• however
• even though

Compare:

• не usually negates something directly.
• ни often appears in set expressions that strengthen indefiniteness or concession.

So:

• Сколько ни смотри... = No matter how much you look...
• not Сколько не смотри... in this meaning

This is an important pattern to memorize as a whole.

Because the verb смотреть normally takes the preposition на when it means to look at something.

So:

• смотреть на лужайку = to look at the lawn

The noun лужайку is in the accusative case because на with direction/target of looking takes the accusative here.

Compare:

• смотреть на небо = to look at the sky
• смотреть на ребёнка = to look at the child

English often uses just look at, and Russian expresses that at with на.

Лужайку is the accusative singular of лужайка.

Declension:

• nominative: лужайка
• accusative: лужайку

It ends in -у because feminine nouns ending in -а / -я usually change to -у / -ю in the accusative singular when they are inanimate.

Here it is accusative because of на after смотреть на.

Всё равно means:

• all the same
• anyway
• still
• nevertheless

In this sentence it emphasizes that the result does not change:

• you keep looking,
• but the sparrow still quickly hides in the grass.

So the structure is roughly:

• No matter how much you look at the lawn, the little sparrow still quickly hides in the grass.

Very common uses:

• Я всё равно пойду. = I will go anyway.
• Он всё равно не согласится. = He still will not agree.

Прячется comes from прятаться = to hide oneself / to hide.

It is imperfective, which fits well because the sentence describes a repeated or characteristic action:

• whenever you look,
• the sparrow quickly hides.

The present tense in Russian is often used for:

• habitual actions
• general truths
• vivid descriptions of what typically happens

So быстро прячется means something like:

• quickly hides
• keeps hiding quickly
• hides itself quickly

If the speaker wanted to emphasize a single completed act, a perfective verb might be used in another context, but here the imperfective sounds natural because it describes a recurring behavior.

В траве means in the grass.

Траве is the prepositional singular of трава.

Why prepositional? Because в can take different cases:

• в + accusative = into, motion toward the inside
• в + prepositional = in, location

Here the focus is on location:

• прячется в траве = hides in the grass

Compare:

• идёт в траву = goes into the grass
• сидит в траве = sits in the grass

It can mean either small or little, depending on style and context.

• маленький = small, little

So маленький воробей is:

• a small sparrow
• a little sparrow

In English, little sparrow often sounds more natural and affectionate, while small sparrow is more literal. In Russian, маленький can cover both meanings.

Also:

• воробей is masculine singular nominative
• маленький agrees with it in gender, number, and case

So both are nominative masculine singular.

Because the first part, Сколько ни смотри на лужайку, is a concessive clause: it sets up the situation.

The main clause is:

• маленький воробей всё равно быстро прячется в траве

Inside that main clause, маленький воробей is in the nominative, so it is the subject.

Russian word order is flexible. The sentence is organized by meaning and emphasis, not only by strict subject-verb-object order. The speaker first says:

• No matter how much you look at the lawn...

and then gives the main point:

• the little sparrow still quickly hides in the grass.

Yes. Russian word order is flexible, although different orders change emphasis.

For example, you could also hear:

• Сколько ни смотри на лужайку, воробей всё равно быстро прячется в траве.
• Маленький воробей быстро всё равно прячется в траве would sound less natural, because всё равно usually has a more fixed position near the core of the statement.

The original order sounds natural because:

• the concessive clause comes first,
• then the subject,
• then всё равно,
• then the verb and the rest.

So the original sentence has a good natural flow.

Not exactly. They are related, but not identical.

• лужайка = a little lawn, grassy patch, small green area
• газон = lawn in the sense of a maintained grass lawn, often in a park or near a building
• поляна = a clearing, an open grassy place, usually in a forest or countryside

So лужайка gives a softer, slightly more picturesque image: a small grassy area. It fits well with a sparrow hiding in the grass.

It describes how the sparrow hides: quickly.

So:

• быстро прячется = hides quickly

It is an adverb modifying the verb прячется.

It does not mean that the sparrow hides often. For that, Russian would use a different kind of wording, such as an adverb of frequency.

Yes. The sentence sounds slightly literary or descriptive because of the combination:

• Сколько ни смотри...
• всё равно...

This creates a strong contrast:

• you try to see,
• but the sparrow always escapes your view.

It gives the sentence a feeling of frustration or inevitability: no matter what you do, the result is the same.

That is one reason this pattern is useful to learn as a whole. It is common and expressive in Russian.