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До тех пор, пока зуб не перестанет болеть, я буду полоскать рот тёплой водой.

До тех пор, пока зуб не перестанет болеть, я буду полоскать рот тёплой водой.
Until the tooth stops hurting, I will rinse my mouth with warm water.

Breakdown of До тех пор, пока зуб не перестанет болеть, я буду полоскать рот тёплой водой.

я
I
вода
the water
не
not
зуб
the tooth
тёплый
warm
до тех пор, пока
until
перестать болеть
to stop hurting
полоскать
to rinse
рот
the mouth
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Questions & Answers about До тех пор, пока зуб не перестанет болеть, я буду полоскать рот тёплой водой.

Why are there two words до тех пор and пока? Wouldn’t пока alone work?

До тех пор, пока ... is a fixed “correlative” structure meaning until (the time when). It’s more explicit and slightly more formal/emphatic than plain пока.

  • Пока зуб не перестанет болеть, ... = While/Until the tooth stops hurting, ... (shorter, common in speech)
  • До тех пор, пока зуб не перестанет болеть, ... = Until such time as the tooth stops hurting, ... (more “framed”)
Why is there a comma: До тех пор, пока ... , я буду ...?

Because the clause introduced by пока is a subordinate clause, and Russian normally separates subordinate clauses with commas. Here the whole time clause (До тех пор, пока зуб не перестанет болеть) comes first, so it’s followed by a comma before the main clause (я буду полоскать...).

Why does it say зуб (nominative) and not something like у меня зуб?

Both patterns are possible in Russian:

  • Зуб болит = literally The tooth hurts (very common, neutral)
  • У меня болит зуб = literally At me, a tooth hurts (also common; it explicitly marks the experiencer у меня)

This sentence chooses the simpler зуб-as-subject pattern.

What is going on with не in пока зуб не перестанет болеть? Isn’t that a “double negative”?

It’s not a double negative in meaning. In Russian, with пока / до тех пор, пока meaning until, the subordinate clause often uses не even though the English translation usually doesn’t:

  • пока не перестанет болеть = until it stops hurting This не is a common feature of “until” constructions (similar to пока не = until).
Why is перестанет in the future, and what aspect is it?

Перестанет is the future tense of the perfective verb перестать (to stop (once, reach the endpoint)). Perfective is natural because “stop hurting” is seen as a completed change of state:

  • перестанет = will stop (one-time endpoint) You wouldn’t normally use an imperfective form here, because you want the moment when the stopping happens.
Why is болеть an infinitive after перестанет?

Перестать is a verb that takes an infinitive to describe what action/state is being stopped:

  • перестать + infinitive = to stop doing something So перестанет болеть = will stop hurting.
Why is it я буду полоскать instead of a single-word future form?

Because полоскать is imperfective. Imperfective verbs form the future with быть + infinitive:

  • я буду полоскать = I will be rinsing / I will rinse repeatedly If you used a perfective partner (often прополоскать), you could get a simple future:
  • я прополощу рот = I will rinse (once, as a single completed action)
What’s the difference between полоскать рот and прополоскать рот?
  • полоскать (imperfective) focuses on the process/repetition: to rinse (habitually/for a while)
  • прополоскать (perfective) focuses on one completed rinse: to rinse (and finish) In this sentence, the idea is repeated action over a period: you’ll keep rinsing until it stops hurting, so буду полоскать fits well.
Why is водой in the instrumental case: тёплой водой?

After полоскать (to rinse), the liquid used is typically expressed with the instrumental case, meaning with/by means of:

  • полоскать рот водой = to rinse the mouth with water So тёплой водой is instrumental singular (feminine): with warm water.
What does тех mean in до тех пор and what case is it?
Тех is the genitive plural form of тот (that). The phrase до тех пор is idiomatic and literally means something like up to those times/moments, i.e. until then / until that point. You can treat до тех пор as a set expression meaning until (then).