Лучше немного помолчать, а потом спокойно поговорить.

Here лучше means it is better to... or better to... It is a very common Russian pattern:

• лучше + infinitive
• Лучше подождать.
• Лучше уйти сейчас.

Russian does not need a word like it is here. So Лучше немного помолчать... is a natural impersonal recommendation.

Russian often leaves the subject unstated when it is general or clear from context.

So Лучше немного помолчать... can mean things like:

• It’s better to be silent for a bit...
• We’d better be silent for a bit...
• You’d better be silent for a bit...

If you want to make the people explicit, you can add a dative pronoun or noun:

• Нам лучше немного помолчать... = We’d better be silent for a bit...
• Тебе лучше немного помолчать... = You’d better be silent for a bit...

After лучше, Russian usually uses the infinitive to name the action being recommended.

So:

• Лучше помолчать
• Лучше поговорить позже
• Лучше не спорить

This is very similar to English better to + verb, although English also often says we’d better + verb.

Russian uses the perfective here because the speaker is talking about two complete, bounded actions:

1. be silent for a while
2. then have a calm talk

The imperfective forms молчать and говорить would focus more on the process in a general or ongoing way. In this sentence, the idea is not general behavior, but a specific course of action.

So:

• помолчать = be silent for a while, as one complete stretch
• поговорить = have a talk, as one complete event

That is why perfective sounds natural here.

In many verbs, по- can give the idea of doing something for a while or as a limited, single event.

Here that fits very well:

• помолчать = stay silent for a bit
• поговорить = talk for a while / have a talk

So по- helps make the actions feel limited and manageable, not open-ended.

Немного is an adverb meaning a little, a bit, or for a short while.

It modifies помолчать:

• немного помолчать = be silent for a little while

This is very natural with помолчать, because both suggest a limited duration.

Here а links the two stages and gives a slight sense of contrast or transition:

• first, silence
• then, calm conversation

It is not a strong opposition like but, but it helps separate the two steps clearly.

So а потом often feels like:

• and then
• and after that
• whereas after that

Using just потом is possible in some contexts, but а потом sounds smoother and more structured here.

Because спокойно is an adverb, and it modifies the verb поговорить.

It answers the question how should the talking happen?

• спокойно поговорить = talk calmly

If you used спокойный, that would be an adjective and would need to describe a noun:

• спокойный разговор = a calm conversation
• спокойный человек = a calm person

But here we are describing the manner of the action, so the adverb спокойно is correct.

Because а is a coordinating conjunction joining two parts of the sentence:

• Лучше немного помолчать
• а потом спокойно поговорить

In Russian, a comma is normally used before а in this kind of structure.

Yes, Russian word order is flexible, but the original order is very natural because it presents the advice in a clear sequence:

1. Лучше sets up the recommendation right away.
2. немного помолчать gives the first step.
3. а потом спокойно поговорить gives the second step.

You can move words around for emphasis, but not every variant sounds equally natural. For example, the original sentence is smooth and neutral. If you change the order, you may change the emphasis or make the sentence sound less idiomatic.

The main word stress is:

• лу́чше
• немно́го
• помолча́ть
• пото́м
• споко́йно
• поговори́ть

A natural rhythm would be something like:

Лу́чше немно́го помолча́ть, а пото́м споко́йно поговори́ть.

The voice usually falls slightly at the comma and then continues into the second part.