kanozyo ha kaimonokago wo mottamama, seruhurezi no mae de saihu wo sagasite ita.

は marks 彼女 as the topic of the sentence: as for her...

It does not simply mean the subject in the same way English does. Here, it sets up who the sentence is about, and the rest of the sentence describes what she was doing.

So:

• 彼女は = as for her / she

In many cases, this will sound like the natural English subject, but the Japanese role is specifically topic marker.

買い物かご means shopping basket.

It is made from:

• 買い物 = shopping
• かご / 籠 = basket

Japanese often combines nouns into compound nouns, so 買い物かご is just a normal compound meaning a basket for shopping.

You may also see it written in slightly different ways, such as:

• 買い物かご
• 買い物籠
• ショッピングかご in some contexts

を marks the direct object of 持った.

So:

• 買い物かごを持った = held / was holding a shopping basket

Even though in English we may think of holding as more of a state, in Japanese 持つ still takes a direct object with を.

Vたまま means while remaining in the state of having done V or without changing the state after doing V.

So:

• 持つ = to hold
• 持った = held
• 持ったまま = while still holding it / without putting it down

In this sentence, it means she was searching for her wallet while still holding the shopping basket.

A natural way to understand it is:

• 買い物かごを持ったまま = still carrying the shopping basket

Because まま attaches to the plain past form of a verb when it means remaining in that state.

So the pattern is:

• Vたまま

Examples:

• ドアを開けたまま = leaving the door open
• 靴をはいたまま = with shoes still on
• 立ったまま = standing
• 持ったまま = while still holding

So 持ってまま is not the correct grammar here.

The comma shows a pause and helps separate the first action/state from the main action.

So the sentence is organized like this:

• 買い物かごを持ったまま、
• セルフレジの前で財布を探していた。

This makes it easier to read:

• while still holding a shopping basket,
• she was looking for her wallet in front of the self-checkout.

The comma is helpful, but punctuation in Japanese can be somewhat flexible.

セルフレジ is a katakana loanword meaning self-checkout or self-service register.

It comes from:

• セルフ = self
• レジ = cash register / checkout register

So セルフレジの前 means:

• in front of the self-checkout

Katakana is commonly used for modern store-related vocabulary like this.

の links nouns together.

Here:

• セルフレジ = self-checkout
• 前 = front / the area in front

So:

• セルフレジの前 = the front of the self-checkout / in front of the self-checkout

This is a very common noun-linking pattern:

• 学校の前 = in front of the school
• 駅の前 = in front of the station
• 家の前 = in front of the house

で marks the place where an action happens.

The action here is:

• 財布を探していた = was looking for her wallet

So:

• セルフレジの前で = at / in front of the self-checkout

Compare:

• に often marks existence or destination
• で marks the location of an action

Here, because looking for is an action, で is the natural choice.

Vていた often describes an ongoing action in the past.

So:

• 探す = to search for
• 探している = is searching for
• 探していた = was searching for

In this sentence, it shows that she was in the middle of looking for her wallet at that time.

So it is not just:

• she looked for her wallet

but more like:

• she was looking for her wallet

Not necessarily.

ていた mainly tells you the action was ongoing in the past. Whether it lasted a long time depends on context.

So 財布を探していた simply means:

• she was looking for her wallet
• she was searching for her wallet

It could have been only a few seconds, or longer.

Because 財布 is the thing she was searching for.

With 探す, the thing being searched for is usually marked by を:

• 財布を探す = search for a wallet
• 鍵を探す = search for keys
• 出口を探す = look for the exit

So here:

• 財布を探していた = was looking for her wallet

It describes the state she was in while doing the main action.

So it is not just a simple adjective modifying 彼女. It sets the condition for the main event:

• while still holding a shopping basket, she was looking for her wallet

In other words, 持ったまま connects to the main predicate 探していた and tells you the manner/state in which that action happened.

Yes. A very natural English rendering would be something like:

• She was standing in front of the self-checkout, still holding a shopping basket, searching for her wallet.
• She was looking for her wallet in front of the self-checkout while still carrying a shopping basket.

Japanese often presents details in a different order from English, so a natural translation may rearrange things slightly.

Yes. Japanese usually puts the main verb at the end, and information before it builds up the scene.

This sentence goes roughly like this:

1. 彼女は — as for her
2. 買い物かごを持ったまま — while still holding a shopping basket
3. セルフレジの前で — in front of the self-checkout
4. 財布を — her wallet
5. 探していた — was searching for

So the sentence gradually sets up:

• who
• in what state
• where
• for what
• what action was happening

That is very typical Japanese sentence structure.