Learn Russian: Мне пора делать уборку, но мне лень. - It is time for me to do the cleaning, but I am too lazy.

The words пора (it is time) and лень (too lazy) act as impersonal predicates here. They do not describe an action done by an active subject, but rather a state or condition experienced by someone. In Russian, the person experiencing this state takes the Dative case, which is why we use мне instead of я.

How come лень, which is a noun meaning "laziness," translates to "I am too lazy" here?

In impersonal sentences, certain nouns like лень, жаль (pity), and пора (time) act as "state categories." Instead of acting as a standard noun, лень functions as the main predicate of the clause. Combined with the Dative мне, it literally means "laziness is upon me," which naturally translates to the English adjective phrase "I am too lazy."

Why use the imperfective verb делать after пора instead of the perfective сделать?

Using the imperfective aspect with пора is the standard way to say "it is time to start doing something" or to refer to a general, ongoing chore. If you used the perfective (пора сделать), it would add a strong sense of urgency, meaning "it is high time to get this completely finished" (implying you might already be late).

Could I say мне пора убираться instead of мне пора делать уборку?