Давай встретимся попозже, когда в кафе станет тише.

Давай is a very common way to say let’s in informal Russian.

So Давай встретимся means Let’s meet.

Literally, давай comes from the verb давать (to give), but in this pattern it does not mean give. It works more like an invitation or suggestion:

• Давай пойдём. = Let’s go.
• Давай поговорим. = Let’s talk.

This is natural in everyday speech. It is informal and friendly.

Встретимся is the perfective future form of встретиться (to meet, to get together once).

Russian often uses the perfective aspect when talking about a single completed future event:

• встретимся = we will meet / let’s meet

If you said встречаемся, that would usually sound like:

• a regular repeated action, or
• a planned arrangement in some contexts

But here the speaker is suggesting one meeting at a later time, so встретимся is the natural choice.

The -ся is the reflexive ending.

In встретиться, it is part of the standard verb form and you should learn the verb as a whole: встретиться = to meet up, to meet each other.

It does not translate neatly word-for-word into English here. You can think of it as part of the meaning meet up rather than just meet.

Compare:

• встретить друга = to meet a friend
• встретиться с другом = to meet up with a friend

In your sentence, встретимся means let’s meet up.

Both позже and попозже mean later, but попозже sounds a little softer and more conversational.

• позже = later
• попозже = a bit later / somewhat later

The prefix по- often adds a mild, less direct tone in expressions like this. So Давай встретимся попозже feels very natural in spoken Russian, like Let’s meet a bit later.

Because когда в кафе станет тише is a subordinate clause: when it gets quieter in the café.

Russian, like English, normally separates this kind of clause with a comma:

• Давай встретимся попозже, когда...

This is standard punctuation.

Станет comes from стать and means will become.

So:

• станет тише = will become quieter

This emphasizes a change of state: right now it is noisy, and later it will change and become quieter.

You can sometimes hear будет тише too, but станет тише is especially natural when the idea is it will get quieter.

Тише is the comparative form of тихо.

• тихо = quiet
• тише = quieter

Since the sentence means that the café will be quieter than it is now, Russian uses the comparative:

• когда в кафе станет тише = when it gets quieter in the café

If you said станет тихо, that would mean it becomes quiet, not just quieter. That is a slightly different idea.

В кафе means in the café.

After в meaning in, Russian normally uses the prepositional case. But кафе is one of those borrowed nouns that usually do not change form in the singular. So even though the case is prepositional, the word still looks the same:

• в кафе
• о кафе
• из кафе

This is normal. The case is shown by the preposition and the sentence structure, not by a visible ending here.

Yes. Russian often leaves out things that are obvious from context.

In когда в кафе станет тише, there is no separate word for it. English needs it gets quieter, but Russian does not.

The idea is simply:

• when it becomes quieter in the café

So станет is a third-person singular form, but there is no explicit subject word.

Word-for-word, something like that is possible, but it sounds unnatural in English.

Russian often allows structures that do not map neatly onto English. A more natural English rendering would be:

• Let’s meet a bit later, when the café is quieter.
• Let’s meet later, when it gets quieter in the café.

So it is better to understand the Russian structure, but not try to mirror it exactly in English.

You could, but it changes the meaning slightly.

• когда в кафе станет тише = when it gets quieter inside the café
• когда кафе станет тише = when the café itself becomes quieter

The second version treats кафе more as the thing that is becoming quieter. The original version focuses on the atmosphere in the place, which is more natural here.

The ending of the verb does that.

Встретимся is first-person plural future:

• встрет- = verb stem
• -им = we
• -ся = reflexive ending

So the verb itself means we will meet / let’s meet. Russian often does not need a separate pronoun like мы (we) unless you want emphasis.

It is informal to neutral-conversational.

The main reason is давай, which is a friendly, everyday way to say let’s. You would use this with friends, classmates, coworkers you are on casual terms with, and so on.

In a more formal situation, you would usually choose a different structure, for example:

• Давайте встретимся попозже... if speaking politely to one person or to a group
• or a less direct phrasing altogether

So the sentence sounds natural and polite in casual conversation, but not especially formal.