Не те щоб малина не стигла, але вона просто дорога.

It is a common pattern meaning something like It’s not that ... but ... or Not exactly that ... it’s just that ....

Here, the speaker rejects one possible explanation and replaces it with a different one:

• not the issue: малина не стигла
• actual issue: вона просто дорога

So the whole sentence has the nuance of: The problem isn’t really that the raspberries aren’t ripe; they’re just expensive.

Not in the usual sense. The first не belongs to the expression не те щоб, and the second не negates стигла.

So the structure is:

• не те щоб = it’s not that
• не стигла = not ripe

Together: It’s not that the raspberry/raspberries are not ripe...

This is not a mistake and not an unusual double negative. It is a normal idiomatic construction.

In Ukrainian, малина can be used as a mass/collective noun, like talking about raspberry fruit in general rather than counting individual berries.

So малина may correspond to:

• raspberries
• raspberry fruit
• sometimes raspberry in a general sense

English often prefers the plural raspberries in this context, but Ukrainian often uses singular малина naturally.

Because малина is a feminine singular noun, and Ukrainian pronouns agree with the grammatical gender and number of the noun.

So:

• малина = feminine singular
• therefore вона = she/it grammatically, but here it means it

Even if English might translate the idea as they’re expensive, Ukrainian keeps agreement with the singular noun малина, so it uses вона and not вони.

Because they agree with малина, which is feminine singular.

Both words are feminine singular forms:

• стигла = ripe
• дорога = expensive

Compare:

• стиглий, дорогий = masculine singular
• стигла, дорога = feminine singular
• стигле, дороге = neuter singular
• стиглі, дорогі = plural

Since малина is feminine singular, the sentence needs стигла and дорога.

Here it is best understood as an adjective: ripe.

So малина не стигла means the raspberry/raspberries are not ripe.

This can confuse learners because стигла can also look like a past-tense verb form from стигнути in other contexts. But in this sentence, with the meaning already given, it functions as a predicate adjective describing малина.

Because in Ukrainian, the present-tense copula to be is usually omitted.

So Ukrainian often says literally:

• малина не стигла = raspberry not ripe
• вона дорога = it expensive

but the meaning is:

• the raspberries are not ripe
• it is expensive

This is completely normal in Ukrainian. You usually do not add є in this kind of sentence.

Просто means simply or just.

In this sentence it makes the second clause sound more natural and conversational:

• але вона просто дорога = but it’s just expensive

It suggests that the explanation is simple and straightforward: ripeness is not the problem; price is.

Without просто, the sentence would still be grammatical, but a little flatter:

• але вона дорога

Not necessarily 100% as a factual claim. The main point is that ripeness is not the issue.

So the nuance is closer to:

• It’s not that they aren’t ripe
• That’s not the problem
• The real problem is the price

In practice, this often suggests they are ripe enough, or at least that their ripeness is not what matters here.

Yes, Ukrainian word order is flexible, but the original order is natural and neutral.

• Не те щоб малина не стигла, але вона просто дорога.

If you move words around, you can change emphasis. For example:

• Але вона дорога = a bit more direct, less soft
• Вона просто дорога = emphasizes the explanation
• Просто дорога вона = possible only in special contexts, but marked and less neutral

For a learner, the original sentence is a good standard model.

Yes, that would also be grammatical, but it is slightly different in feel.

• малина ... вона ... дорога treats raspberry fruit as a general mass noun
• малини ... вони ... дорогі treats them as plural countable items

So both are possible, but the original sentence sounds more like talking about raspberry fruit as a product in general, which is very natural in Ukrainian.