Допей чай, пока он тёплый.

Because допей means finish drinking the tea, not just drink it.

• пей = drink / be drinking
• допей = drink the rest / finish it

The prefix до- often adds the idea of completing something to the end. So Допей чай is specifically telling someone to finish the tea that is already there.

Допей is the imperative form, used for giving a command, instruction, or encouragement.

It comes from the verb допить (perfective), meaning to finish drinking.

So:

• допить = to finish drinking
• допей! = finish drinking! / finish it!

Because it is a perfective imperative, it usually focuses on getting a result completed.

In Допей чай, чай is the direct object of the verb, so it is in the accusative case.

For many masculine inanimate nouns in Russian, the accusative singular looks exactly the same as the nominative singular.

So:

• nominative: чай
• accusative: чай

Even though the form does not change, its grammatical role does.

Here пока means while or as long as.

So пока он тёплый means while it is still warm.

In this sentence, the idea is:

Finish the tea while it’s still warm.

Be careful, because пока can mean different things in different contexts:

• Пока! = Bye!
• пока in a sentence like this = while / as long as

Because чай is a masculine noun in Russian, so the pronoun referring to it must also be masculine.

• чай = masculine
• therefore: он = it/he
• and adjective: тёплый = masculine singular

So пока он тёплый literally means while it is warm, with он matching чай grammatically.

This is very normal in Russian: pronouns agree with the noun’s grammatical gender, even when English would simply use it.

Both words relate to temperature, but they are not the same:

• тёплый = warm
• горячий = hot

Пока он тёплый suggests the tea is pleasantly warm now, but may cool down soon. It sounds natural in everyday speech.

If you said пока он горячий, that would mean while it’s still hot, which is also possible in some situations, but it gives a slightly different image.

So the choice depends on what temperature the speaker has in mind.

It can, but it depends on tone and context.

Imperatives in Russian are not automatically rude. Допей чай can sound:

• caring: someone wants you not to waste it
• practical: they know it will get cold
• firm: they are telling you what to do

Adding polite words can soften it:

• Допей чай, пожалуйста. = Please finish your tea.

Tone of voice matters a lot in both Russian and English.

Because the two parts are doing different jobs.

• Допей uses a perfective verb because the speaker wants a completed result: finish the tea.
• он тёплый is not an action verb at all; it describes a state: the tea is warm.

The clause with пока gives the time condition under which the action should happen.

So the structure is basically:

• Do this completed action
• while this state is still true

Yes, very often.

Пока он тёплый is naturally understood as while it’s still warm, even though there is no separate word meaning still in that phrase.

The idea of still being in that state for now, but not for long is often built into this use of пока.

Yes, but the meaning changes a little.

• Выпей чай = drink the tea / drink it up
• Допей чай = finish the tea / drink the rest

So выпей may sound like drink the tea as a whole, while допей clearly suggests there is some tea left and the person should finish what remains.

In many real situations, both could work, but допей is more specific.

This is a very natural neutral word order.

• Допей чай = main instruction first
• пока он тёплый = then the time condition

Russian word order is flexible, so other versions are possible, for example:

• Пока он тёплый, допей чай.

This puts more emphasis on the condition while it’s warm.

So the original sentence sounds normal and straightforward, but word order can shift emphasis.

In this sentence, он is normally needed.

Russian often omits subjects when they are clear from the verb form, but here there is no verb like есть written out, and the pronoun helps make the meaning complete:

• пока он тёплый = while it is warm

If you removed он, the phrase would sound incomplete or unnatural.

So yes, он is important here.

Тёплый is not a verb. It is an adjective, meaning warm.

Its dictionary form is already тёплый because that is the masculine singular nominative form, which is how adjectives are usually listed.

Other forms include:

• тёплая = feminine
• тёплое = neuter
• тёплые = plural

In this sentence it is masculine because it agrees with чай.

Not in this exact sentence.

Here пока он тёплый clearly means while it is warm.

Russian пока can sometimes overlap with ideas like until depending on context, but with an adjective phrase like он тёплый, the natural meaning is while/as long as it is warm.

So for this sentence, you should understand it as while it’s still warm, not until it becomes warm or anything like that.