Breakdown of Он готов сделать что угодно.
он
he / it (for a masculine noun) / it (for a neuter noun)
сделать
to do (perfective) / to make (perfective)
готов
ready (short form)
угодно
any- you like (as in "anyone you like")
Questions & Answers about Он готов сделать что угодно.
Could I use "всё" or "любое" here instead of "что угодно"?
You could say Он готов сделать всё (He is ready to do everything), but что угодно emphasizes "absolutely anything at all" or "whatever you want." You wouldn't use любое or всякое on their own here because those function as adjectives (meaning "any item" or "every sort of") and usually need a noun to modify. Meanwhile, что угодно acts as a standalone pronoun for "anything."
What exactly does "угодно" mean literally?
Historically, угодно is an impersonal predicate meaning "pleasing" or "desired." So что угодно literally means "whatever is pleasing [to you]." In modern Russian, it acts as a particle that attaches to question words like кто, что, где, or когда to mean "any- at all" or "who/what/where/whenever."
Why use the perfective "сделать" instead of the imperfective "делать"?
Using the perfective сделать focuses on the completion of the action: he is ready to successfully get the task done, whatever it might be. If you used делать, it would sound more like he is ready to spend time being busy with whatever activity, rather than accomplishing a specific result.
Why is it "готов" and not "готовый"?
Готов is the short form of the adjective. When "ready" is used as the main predicate of a sentence to show a temporary state of being prepared for an action (followed by an infinitive verb like сделать), you must use the short form. The long form готовый is used to describe a noun directly, like готовый ужин (a ready dinner).
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