Если не поливать цветы, они могут засохнуть.

Russian often leaves the subject unstated when the meaning is general: if one does not water the flowers / if the flowers are not watered.

So Если не поливать цветы does not necessarily mean a specific you. It is more like:

• If you don’t water the flowers
• If one doesn’t water the flowers
• If the flowers aren’t watered

This kind of subjectless infinitive construction is common in Russian when talking about general conditions, rules, or typical consequences.

Because this structure is used to express a general condition, not a condition tied to one clearly named subject.

Compare:

• Если не поливать цветы, они могут засохнуть.
  = If flowers are not watered / if you don’t water flowers, they may dry up.
  General statement.

• Если ты не поливаешь цветы, они могут засохнуть.
  = If you don’t water the flowers, they may dry up.
  Directly addressed to one person.

The infinitive makes the sentence sound broader and less personal.

This is a very important aspect contrast.

• поливать is imperfective because it refers to an ongoing, repeated, or habitual action: to water, to be watering, to water regularly.
• засохнуть is perfective because it refers to a completed result: to dry up.

So the sentence presents:

• an ongoing/repeated action that may fail to happen: not watering
• a resulting completed outcome: they dry up

That is very natural in Russian:

• Если не поливать цветы, они могут засохнуть.

Literally the logic is: If the process of watering does not happen, the result may be that they dry up.

Yes, but the meaning changes slightly.

• Если не поливать цветы...
  = if you do not water them in general / regularly / over time

• Если не полить цветы...
  = if you do not water them this time / as a single action

So:

• Если не поливать цветы, они могут засохнуть.
  sounds like a general truth about plant care.

• Если не полить цветы сегодня, они могут засохнуть.
  sounds more like a specific situation.

This is a classic imperfective vs. perfective contrast.

Цветы is the accusative plural here, because it is the direct object of поливать.

The tricky part is that for inanimate plural nouns, the accusative usually looks the same as the nominative.

So:

• nominative plural: цветы = flowers
• accusative plural: цветы = flowers as an object

That is why you see:

• поливать цветы = to water flowers

If the noun were animate, the accusative plural would often look different.

Here могут means something like can / may / might, depending on how you translate the tone into English.

• они могут засохнуть = they can dry up
• they may dry up
• they might dry up

In this sentence, it expresses possibility, not permission.

So it does not mean:

• they are allowed to dry up

It means:

• it is possible that they will dry up

Because Если не поливать цветы is a subordinate clause introduced by если (if), and Russian normally separates it from the main clause with a comma.

So the structure is:

• Если не поливать цветы,
  subordinate clause

• они могут засохнуть.
  main clause

This is standard Russian punctuation.

Yes. Russian word order is flexible, and changing it can shift the emphasis.

Compare:

• Если не поливать цветы, они могут засохнуть.
  Neutral: If you don’t water the flowers...

• Если цветы не поливать, они могут засохнуть.
  Slightly more emphasis on цветы: If the flowers are not watered...

Both are correct. The original version is very natural and neutral.

Russian often can omit subjects, but here они helps clearly introduce the main clause and makes the sentence sound complete and natural.

• Если не поливать цветы, они могут засохнуть.
  very natural

You may also hear:

• Если не поливать цветы, могут засохнуть.

This is possible, but without они, the sentence is a bit less explicit. Since the flowers have just been mentioned, both versions are understandable.

So они is used for clarity and smoothness.

Yes, it is a conditional sentence, but it is a real/possible condition, not an unreal or hypothetical one.

• Если не поливать цветы, они могут засохнуть.
  = a real possibility / general truth

Russian uses бы for more hypothetical or contrary-to-fact situations, for example:

• Если бы их не поливали, они бы засохли.
  = If they were not watered, they would dry up / If no one watered them, they would dry up

So no бы is needed in your original sentence because it is talking about a realistic consequence.

Not exactly.

• сохнуть = to dry, to become dry; imperfective
• засохнуть = to dry up, to wither from lack of moisture; perfective

For plants, засохнуть is very natural because it suggests drying out badly, often from not being watered.

So in this sentence, засохнуть is stronger and more specific than just сохнуть.

Yes, absolutely. In fact, that is one of the main reasons this sentence uses the infinitive поливать.

It sounds like a general principle:

• If flowers are not watered, they may dry up.

So it works well in contexts like:

• plant care advice
• a warning
• a general fact about flowers

If you wanted a more specific situation, you would usually make that clearer with time words or a specific subject, for example:

• Если сегодня не полить цветы, они могут засохнуть.

No. That would be too literal and not natural English.

Russian infinitive constructions often do not map directly onto English infinitives.

A natural English translation would be:

• If you don’t water the flowers
• If the flowers aren’t watered
• If one does not water the flowers

So even though Russian uses the infinitive поливать, English usually needs a normal clause instead of if not to water.