Если я болею, я остаюсь дома и пью тёплый чай.

Если means if.

It introduces a condition:

• Если я болею = If I am ill / If I’m sick

So the whole sentence has the structure:

• If X, then Y

In Russian, this is a very common way to build conditional sentences.

Russian puts a comma between the if-clause and the main clause.

So:

• Если я болею, я остаюсь дома и пью тёплый чай.

This works like English:

• If I’m sick, I stay home and drink hot tea.

Even if English sometimes feels more flexible in informal writing, Russian normally requires the comma here.

Болею is the 1st person singular present tense of болеть.

So:

• болеть = to be ill / to be sick
• я болею = I am ill / I’m sick

It can describe a state of being sick, not just a momentary action.

This is just how the verb болеть is conjugated.

Its present-tense forms are:

• я болею
• ты болеешь
• он/она болеет
• мы болеем
• вы болеете
• они болеют

So болею is the correct I form.

Yes.

Both can be translated as I am sick, but they are used a bit differently:

• я болею = I am ill / I’m sick; often focuses on the condition or being unwell
• я болен (masculine) / я больна (feminine) = I am sick; more adjectival, like describing your state directly

In this sentence, если я болею sounds very natural.

Остаюсь comes from оставаться, which means to stay / to remain.

The -ся / -сь ending marks a reflexive verb. In Russian, many verbs use this ending even when English does not use myself.

So:

• оставаться = to remain / to stay
• я остаюсь = I stay / I remain

Here -сь is just the short form of -ся, used after a vowel.

Because дома in Russian often means at home.

So:

• я остаюсь дома = I stay at home

This is a very common expression. You should learn дома almost as a fixed word meaning at home, rather than trying to interpret it literally every time.

Because дома is the normal word for at home.

Compare:

• дома = at home
• в доме = in the house/building

So if you mean “I stay home,” Russian normally says:

• Я остаюсь дома.

If you said в доме, it would sound more like you are emphasizing the building itself.

Пью is the 1st person singular present tense of пить (to drink).

So:

• пить = to drink
• я пью = I drink / I am drinking

This verb is a little irregular, so it is worth memorizing.

Some present-tense forms are:

• я пью
• ты пьёшь
• он/она пьёт
• мы пьём
• вы пьёте
• они пьют

Because чай is the direct object of пью (I drink), so it goes in the accusative case.

However, чай is masculine inanimate, and for masculine inanimate nouns, the accusative is the same as the nominative.

So:

• nominative: тёплый чай
• accusative: тёплый чай

That is why the phrase does not visibly change.

Adjectives must match the noun they describe in gender, number, and case.

Since чай is:

• masculine
• singular
• accusative inanimate

the adjective takes the matching form:

• тёплый чай

Because masculine inanimate accusative looks like nominative, тёплый stays the same here.

Yes, it could be omitted:

• Если я болею, остаюсь дома и пью тёплый чай.

That is grammatically possible.

But Russian often repeats the subject pronoun for clarity or rhythm:

• Если я болею, я остаюсь дома...

So the version with the second я sounds completely natural.

Usually it sounds general or habitual:

• If I’m sick, I stay home and drink hot tea.
• or When I’m sick, I stay home and drink hot tea.

Because all the verbs are in the present tense and are imperfective, the sentence naturally suggests a usual pattern or general rule.

Context could make it refer to a current situation, but the most natural reading is habitual/general.

Russian uses the imperfective aspect here because the sentence describes a general situation or repeated behavior.

• болею = being ill
• остаюсь = staying home
• пью = drinking tea

These are not presented as single completed actions. Instead, they describe what happens in that kind of situation.

If Russian wanted to emphasize one completed action, different verbs or forms might be used.

Тёплый is pronounced roughly like TYOP-lyy.

A few important points:

• ё sounds like yo
• ё is always stressed
• in many printed texts, ё is often written as е, but the correct pronunciation is still ё if that is the word

So тёплый is not pronounced like teplyy, but like tyoplyy.

Yes, in sentences like this, English may translate it more naturally as when even though the Russian word is если (if).

For example:

• Если я болею, я остаюсь дома...

Depending on context, this can mean:

• If I’m sick, I stay home...
• When I’m sick, I stay home...

The Russian sentence expresses a condition, but in natural English that condition can sound like a habitual when.

The basic structure is:

• Если я болею, я остаюсь дома и пью тёплый чай.

This is literally:

• If I am sick, I stay home and drink warm tea.

Russian word order is more flexible than English, but this version is neutral and natural.

The main clause contains two coordinated verbs:

• я остаюсь дома
• и пью тёплый чай

Both actions belong to the same subject, я.