Коли щось ламається вдома, мій батько спочатку намагається лагодити це сам.

Because Коли щось ламається вдома is a subordinate clause introduced by коли. In Ukrainian, subordinate clauses are normally separated by commas.

So the structure is:

Коли щось ламається вдома, + main clause
мій батько спочатку намагається лагодити це сам.

This is very standard punctuation.

Щось means something.

It is an indefinite pronoun:

• що = what / that
• щось = something

So:

• Що це? = What is this?
• Щось ламається. = Something is breaking / Something breaks.

The ending -сь is what gives it the indefinite meaning here.

Not literally. In this sentence, ламається means breaks, goes wrong, or gets broken.

The verb ламати means to break something.
The reflexive form ламатися often means to break in the sense of become broken.

Compare:

• Він ламає стілець. = He is breaking the chair.
• Стілець ламається. = The chair is breaking / The chair breaks.

So -ся here does not mean the object is consciously doing something to itself. It often makes the verb intransitive or gives it a middle/passive-like meaning.

This is mainly about aspect.

• ламатися = imperfective
• зламатися = perfective

In this sentence, the speaker is talking about a general, repeated situation: whenever something breaks at home. For habitual or repeated situations, Ukrainian usually prefers the imperfective:

• Коли щось ламається вдома... = When something breaks at home / Whenever something breaks at home...

If you said:

• Коли щось зламається вдома...

that would sound more like when something breaks at home on some future occasion.

So the imperfective fits the habitual meaning better.

Вдома means at home. It is the normal word when you mean being at one’s home in a general sense.

• вдома = at home
• у домі = in the house / inside the building

So:

• Я вдома. = I’m at home.
• Я у домі. = I’m in the house.

In your sentence, the idea is not specifically inside the building as a physical location, but at home as the family/home setting. That is why вдома is the natural choice.

Not always, but it is very natural here.

Ukrainian has no articles, so possessives like мій, твій, його often help make relationships clear. Мій батько clearly means my father.

If the context already made it obvious whose father you meant, a speaker might shorten it to just батько. But in an isolated sentence, мій батько sounds clearer and more complete.

Yes, you could.

• батько = father; neutral standard word
• тато = dad; warmer, more informal, more family-like

So both are possible:

• мій батько...
• мій тато...

The original sentence sounds neutral and standard. Using тато would make it sound more personal or conversational.

Спочатку means at first or first.

It shows that this is the father’s first reaction: before asking for help, calling someone, replacing the item, and so on, he first tries to fix it himself.

Its position before the verb is very natural:

• мій батько спочатку намагається...

You may also hear спершу, which is very similar in meaning.

Намагається is the 3rd person singular present tense of намагатися = to try.

So:

• я намагаюся = I try / I am trying
• ти намагаєшся = you try
• він / вона намагається = he / she tries

Like English try, it is followed by an infinitive:

• намагається лагодити = tries to fix

So the structure is very straightforward: намагатися + infinitive

All three are possible, but they are not identical.

• лагодити = to fix, to mend, to repair
• полагодити = to fix completely, to get repaired successfully
• ремонтувати = to repair; often a bit broader or more formal

In this sentence, лагодити works well because it fits a general, habitual situation: when something breaks, he tries to do the fixing himself.

Also, after намагатися, both imperfective and perfective infinitives can appear, but the nuance changes:

• намагається лагодити = focuses more on the activity/process, or on the general habit
• намагається полагодити = focuses more on the goal of fixing it successfully

So the original sentence sounds natural for a repeated family habit.

Це refers back to щось and means it here.

Even though це often means this/that, it can also work as a neutral pronoun referring to an unspecified thing:

• щось = something
• лагодити це = fix it

Its position is fairly flexible in Ukrainian, though some orders sound more neutral than others:

• лагодити це сам = neutral and natural
• це лагодити сам = possible, with different emphasis

Could it be omitted? Sometimes in casual speech, yes, if the object is obvious from context. But in a standalone sentence, keeping це makes the structure clearer and more complete.

Сам means himself or by himself.

It is masculine singular because it refers to батько, not to це:

• батько = masculine singular
• therefore сам

So:

• лагодити це сам = to fix it himself

It comes at the end for emphasis. The sentence is stressing that he tries to do it on his own.

If сам referred to a feminine subject, it would be сама:

• моя мати ... лагодить це сама

If it referred to a neuter noun, then it would be саме, but that is not what is happening here.