Тренер не торопил нас и сказал, что лучше сделать меньше, но правильно.

Торопить кого-то means to hurry someone, to rush someone, or to urge someone to go faster.

So Тренер не торопил нас means the trainer/coach wasn’t rushing us or didn’t pressure us to hurry.

This is different from не спешил, which would mean he himself wasn’t in a hurry.

Нас is the accusative case here because it is the direct object of торопить.

• торопить кого? → нас
• literally: to hurry whom? → us

So the structure is:

• тренер = subject
• не торопил = verb
• нас = object

Both are past tense masculine singular forms.

In Russian past tense, the verb agrees with the subject in gender and number:

• торопил
• сказал

These forms are masculine because тренер is masculine.

Compare:

• masculine: тренер сказал
• feminine: тренер сказала if the speaker is referring to a female coach with feminine agreement
• plural: тренеры сказали

The -л is the normal marker of past tense.

Because the punctuation follows three different rules:

1. No comma before и

   • Тренер не торопил нас и сказал...
   • Here не торопил and сказал are two verbs with the same subject, joined by и.
   • That usually does not need a comma.

2. Comma before что

   • сказал, что...
   • Что introduces a subordinate clause: he said that...

3. Comma before но

   • меньше, но правильно
   • Но shows contrast: less, but correctly

So the commas are there for standard Russian sentence structure.

Что introduces the content of what was said, like English that:

• сказал, что... = said that...

So:

• Тренер сказал, что лучше...
• The coach said that it is better...

In English, that is often optional. In Russian, что is very commonly used in this structure.

Here лучше means better in the sense of it is better to...

This is a very common Russian pattern:

• лучше + infinitive

For example:

• Лучше подождать. = It’s better to wait.
• Лучше сделать меньше. = It’s better to do less.

So in this sentence, лучше is not describing a noun. It works more like an impersonal predicate: it is better.

This is about aspect.

• сделать = perfective
• делать = imperfective

Here сделать is used because the speaker is talking about achieving a result: do less, but do it correctly. The focus is on a completed action or outcome.

So лучше сделать меньше suggests:

• it is better to do a smaller amount
• and do that amount properly

If you said лучше делать меньше, it would sound more like a general repeated habit or ongoing approach:

• it is better to be doing less
• it is better, in general, to do less

Both can be possible in some contexts, but сделать fits this sentence well because it sounds like practical advice about the task at hand.

Меньше means less or fewer.

In this sentence, the noun is omitted because it is understood from context. Russian often leaves out words that are obvious.

So сделать меньше could mean things like:

• do fewer repetitions
• do less work
• do fewer exercises
• do a smaller amount

The sentence does not need to specify exactly what, because the listener already knows from the situation.

Because правильно is an adverb, and it describes how the action should be done.

• правильный = an adjective, meaning correct/right for a noun
• правильно = an adverb, meaning correctly/right

Here it modifies the implied action:

• сделать ... правильно = do it correctly

So:

• меньше, но правильно = less, but correctly

It is not правильнее because the sentence is not making a comparison like more correctly. It is simply saying the action should be done correctly.

Russian often omits a repeated verb when it is easy to understand.

So:

• лучше сделать меньше, но правильно

really means something like:

• лучше сделать меньше, но сделать это правильно

But repeating сделать would sound heavier and less natural here. The shorter version is smoother and very common.

English often also allows this kind of shortening:

• Do less, but correctly.
• Do less, but do it right.

Russian is doing something similar.