Неужели ты всё ещё думаешь, что баклажан тебе нравится меньше, чем кабачок?

Неужели does more than simply mark a question. It adds surprise, disbelief, or mild incredulity.

So the speaker is not just asking Do you still think... ? but more like:

• Do you really still think... ?
• Can it really be that you still think... ?
• Surely you don’t still think... ?

It often suggests that the speaker finds the idea unexpected or hard to believe.

Yes, ты could be omitted, because Russian often leaves out subject pronouns when they are clear from the verb form.

• думаешь already means you think

So:

• Неужели всё ещё думаешь...? = possible
• Неужели ты всё ещё думаешь...? = also possible

Including ты makes the sentence more direct and can add emphasis, especially if the speaker is reacting to your opinion specifically.

Всё ещё is a very common way to say still.

• ещё by itself can mean still, more, another, or yet
• всё ещё makes the meaning still much clearer

So:

• ты всё ещё думаешь = you still think

Using всё ещё helps avoid ambiguity and sounds very natural.

Russian often expresses liking with нравиться, which literally works more like to be pleasing to.

So:

• тебе нравится баклажан literally = eggplant is pleasing to you
• natural English = you like eggplant

This is different from любить, which usually means to love or sometimes to like very much.

In a sentence comparing preferences, нравиться is very natural:

• баклажан тебе нравится меньше, чем кабачок = you like eggplant less than zucchini

Using любить here would sound stronger.

Because нравиться takes the experiencer in the dative case.

With нравиться:

• the thing that is liked is the grammatical subject
• the person who likes it is in the dative

So:

• тебе нравится баклажан
  • тебе = to you
  • баклажан = the thing that pleases you

This is one of the most important patterns to learn with нравиться.

Other examples:

• мне нравится музыка = I like music
• ему нравится фильм = he likes the film

Not necessarily. Russian often uses the singular when talking about a food or category in a general way.

So баклажан here can mean:

• eggplant as a food
• eggplants in general
• the eggplant in a particular context

English and Russian do not match perfectly here. English might prefer eggplant or eggplants, but Russian singular is very common for this kind of generic statement.

The same applies to кабачок.

Russian has no articles at all.

That means баклажан can mean:

• an eggplant
• the eggplant
• eggplant

The exact meaning depends on context, not on an article.

In this sentence, the nouns are understood generically: the speaker is talking about preference between eggplant and zucchini.

The sentence compares how much the listener likes two things:

• баклажан тебе нравится меньше, чем кабачок
• literally: eggplant is pleasing to you less than zucchini

In natural English:

• you like eggplant less than zucchini

After чем, Russian often leaves out words that are already understood. So the full underlying idea is:

• баклажан тебе нравится меньше, чем кабачок [тебе нравится]

The repeated тебе нравится is omitted because it is obvious from context.

Because after чем, this is understood as a shortened comparison clause:

• чем кабачок [тебе нравится]

Here кабачок is the subject of the omitted verb нравится, so it stays in the nominative.

This is a very common kind of ellipsis in Russian comparisons.

A useful way to break it down is:

• что = that
• баклажан = eggplant
• тебе = to you
• нравится = is pleasing / you like
• меньше = less
• чем кабачок = than zucchini

So the structure is roughly:

• that eggplant pleases you less than zucchini

This is why the noun you like, баклажан, is the grammatical subject of нравится.

No, Russian word order is fairly flexible, but the chosen order sounds natural and highlights the comparison well.

This version:

• Неужели ты всё ещё думаешь, что баклажан тебе нравится меньше, чем кабачок?

starts with the emotional reaction (Неужели), then the person addressed (ты), then всё ещё думаешь. In the second clause, баклажан comes early because it is the first item being compared.

Other word orders are possible, but they may shift emphasis. For example:

• Неужели ты всё ещё думаешь, что тебе баклажан нравится меньше, чем кабачок?

This is also understandable, but the original flows more naturally for many speakers.

Because the sentence is about an ongoing or current opinion:

• ты всё ещё думаешь = you still think

The imperfective present is the normal form for thinking/believing in this sense. It describes a present mental state, not a completed action.

If the speaker were talking about a one-time act of deciding or realizing, a different verb or aspect might be used, but here думать is exactly what Russian normally uses.