Пора вернуться домой, пока не начался дождь.

It’s time to go back home before the rain starts.

Breakdown of Пора вернуться домой, пока не начался дождь.

• дождь: the rain
• домой: home
• начаться: to start
• вернуться: to go back
• пора: time (to) / it’s time
• пока не: before

Questions & Answers about Пора вернуться домой, пока не начался дождь.

What part of speech is пора here, and why is there no subject like я/мы?

Пора is a predicative word (a “category of state” word) meaning it’s time. It often forms an impersonal sentence, so there’s no grammatical subject:

• Пора вернуться домой. = It’s time to go back home. If you want to specify who, Russian commonly adds the dative:
• Мне пора вернуться домой. = It’s time for me to go back home.

Why is вернуться an infinitive, not вернёмся or я вернусь?

After пора, Russian normally uses the infinitive to express a general necessity/rightness (“time to do X”):

• Пора + infinitive is the default pattern. Using a finite verb would make it more like a decision/plan:
• Пора вернуться домой. (It’s time to return.)
• Вернёмся домой. (Let’s go back home / We’ll go back home.)

Why is it вернуться (perfective) and not возвращаться (imperfective)?

Вернуться is perfective and focuses on the return as a single completed event (getting back home).
Возвращаться is imperfective and focuses on the process or a repeated/ongoing action. Compare:

• Пора вернуться домой. = time to (get) back home (result).
• Пора возвращаться домой. = time to be heading back / start making your way home (process).

What is домой grammatically, and why isn’t there a preposition like в?

Домой is an adverb of direction meaning (to) home. It’s used with motion verbs and doesn’t take a preposition. Contrast:

• домой = home (as a destination in general)
• в дом = into the house (emphasis on entering a building)

What does пока mean here, and what does пока не ... mean as a whole?

Пока on its own often means while.
Пока не + (usually perfective) commonly means before / until an event happens. So пока не начался дождь is essentially before the rain starts / until the rain starts.

Why is there a не if the meaning is positive in English (no “not” in “before it starts”)?

Russian often uses не in time clauses with пока, пока не, до того как, etc., to mark “up to the point when something happens.” It’s a standard Russian structure and usually doesn’t translate as literal negation in English:

• Пойдём, пока не поздно. = Let’s go before it’s too late.

Why is it начался (past tense), not начнётся (future)?

Both can be used in this kind of “before it starts” clause, but they feel slightly different.

• пока не начался дождь is very common and often sounds immediate/colloquial, like the start is possible any moment.
• пока не начнётся дождь is also correct and can sound a bit more neutral or “future-pointing.” In either case, the intended meaning is “before/until the rain starts.”

Why does начался end in -ся, and what does that add?

The base verb is начать (to start something).
Начаться means to start (by itself) / to begin, i.e., the event begins:

• Он начал дождь is impossible (a person can’t “start” rain in normal speech).
• Дождь начался. = The rain started.

Why is it начался (masculine), and how would it change with other nouns?

Past tense in Russian agrees with the subject in gender/number. Дождь is masculine, so начался is masculine. Examples:

• Началась гроза. (feminine: гроза)
• Началось представление. (neuter: представление)
• Начались дожди. (plural: дожди)

Why is there a comma: ..., пока не начался дождь?

Because пока не начался дождь is a subordinate clause (introduced by пока), Russian normally separates it with a comma:

• Пора вернуться домой, пока не начался дождь. You can also reverse the order:
• Пока не начался дождь, пора вернуться домой.