Если тебе хочется чихнуть, лучше отвернуться и взять салфетку.

Both can be translated with something like you want / you feel like, but the structure is different.

• ты хочешь = you want
• тебе хочется = literally something like it feels-wanty to you / you feel like

In Russian, хочется is a very common impersonal way to talk about a desire or urge. It often sounds softer, less direct, and more like a spontaneous feeling.

So here:

• Если тебе хочется чихнуть... = If you feel like sneezing / If you’re about to sneeze...

It is very natural in everyday Russian.

Because хочется is used in an impersonal construction, and the person experiencing the feeling is put in the dative.

So:

• мне хочется = I feel like...
• тебе хочется = you feel like...
• ему хочется = he feels like...

This is different from English, where the person is usually the grammatical subject.

A very literal breakdown is:

• тебе = to you
• хочется = it is wanted / one feels like

So Russian expresses this as something like to you it feels desirable to sneeze.

Хочется is the 3rd person singular reflexive form related to хотеться, which is used impersonally.

You do not usually match it to the person the way you do with хочу, хочешь, хочет. Instead, you keep хочется and change the dative pronoun:

• мне хочется
• тебе хочется
• ему хочется
• нам хочется

It is best learned as a fixed pattern:

• кому-то хочется + infinitive

Example:

• Мне хочется спать. = I feel sleepy / I feel like sleeping.
• Тебе хочется чихнуть. = You feel like sneezing.

Because чихнуть is the perfective verb, and here it refers to one sneeze or the immediate act of sneezing.

• чихать = to sneeze, to be sneezing, to sneeze repeatedly/in general
• чихнуть = to sneeze once

In this sentence, the idea is:

• If you feel like you’re about to sneeze...

That points to a single upcoming action, so чихнуть fits well.

Compare:

• Мне хочется чихнуть. = I feel like sneezing / I’m about to sneeze.
• Я начал чихать. = I started sneezing.
• Он весь день чихал. = He was sneezing all day.

Because they depend on лучше in a recommendation pattern:

• лучше + infinitive = it’s better to + verb

So:

• лучше отвернуться и взять салфетку = it’s better to turn away and take a tissue

This is a very common Russian structure for giving advice in a general, simple way.

Other examples:

• Лучше подождать. = It’s better to wait.
• Лучше уйти пораньше. = It’s better to leave earlier.

Because лучше here is the comparative form meaning better, not the adjective best.

• лучший = best (adjective)
• лучше = better

In this sentence, лучше works like it is better to...

So:

• лучше отвернуться = better to turn away

You can think of an omitted idea like:

• (тебе) лучше отвернуться = you’d better turn away

Отвернуться means to turn away.

It is reflexive because the action is directed toward the subject’s own position or orientation: you turn yourself away.

Compare:

• повернуть = to turn something
• повернуться = to turn oneself
• отвернуть = to turn something away
• отвернуться = to turn away

In this sentence, отвернуться means turning your face/body away from other people before sneezing.

Because взять is perfective and refers to a single completed action: take/grab a tissue.

• брать = to take, to be taking, to take habitually
• взять = to take once, successfully

Since the sentence gives practical advice about one situation, perfective verbs sound natural:

• отвернуться = turn away
• взять = take

Both actions are seen as specific, one-time responses to the sneeze.

Because салфетку is the accusative singular form, used for the direct object of взять.

Dictionary form:

• салфетка = tissue / napkin

After взять (to take), you need the thing being taken in the accusative:

• взять салфетку = to take a tissue

Since салфетка is an inanimate feminine noun ending in -а, its accusative singular changes to -у:

• салфетка → салфетку

Yes. The subject is understood from context as you.

Russian often leaves out subjects when they are clear from the situation. Here, the whole sentence is talking about what you should do if you feel like sneezing.

So the full sense is:

• Если тебе хочется чихнуть, (тебе) лучше отвернуться и взять салфетку.

The second тебе is usually omitted because it is obvious and would sound repetitive.

Yes, Russian word order is fairly flexible, though some versions sound more natural than others.

The given sentence is very natural:

• Если тебе хочется чихнуть, лучше отвернуться и взять салфетку.

You could also say:

• Лучше отвернуться и взять салфетку, если тебе хочется чихнуть.

That is also grammatical, but it changes the emphasis a little by putting the advice first.

In everyday speech, the original order is very natural because it presents:

1. the situation
2. the advice

Yes, тебе is informal singular you.

For formal singular or plural, use вам:

• Если вам хочется чихнуть, лучше отвернуться и взять салфетку.

So:

• тебе = to you (informal singular)
• вам = to you (formal singular or plural)

This is the same grammar pattern, just with a different dative pronoun.

It can mean either napkin or tissue, depending on context.

In this sentence, because the topic is sneezing, the intended meaning is most naturally tissue.

So взять салфетку here is understood as take a tissue.

If you wanted to be even more specific, Russian might also use expressions like:

• бумажная салфетка = paper napkin/tissue
• носовой платок = handkerchief

But салфетка is perfectly understandable in this context.

Yes, you can.

• Если хочется чихнуть, лучше отвернуться и взять салфетку.

This makes the sentence more general, like If you feel like sneezing... or If one feels like sneezing...

Adding тебе makes it more directly addressed to one person:

• Если тебе хочется чихнуть... = if you feel like sneezing

Both are natural; the version with тебе is just more personal and direct.