Questions & Answers about Пока вода кипит, я читаю книгу.
What does пока mean here?
Here пока means while.
So Пока вода кипит, я читаю книгу means While the water is boiling, I read / am reading a book.
A useful thing to know is that пока has several meanings in Russian depending on context:
- while / as long as
- for now / so far
- bye in informal speech
In this sentence, it is a conjunction introducing a time clause: while the water boils/is boiling.
Why is there a comma after кипит?
Because Пока вода кипит is a subordinate clause, and Russian normally separates subordinate clauses from the main clause with a comma.
So the structure is:
- Пока вода кипит = subordinate clause
- я читаю книгу = main clause
That is why you write:
Пока вода кипит, я читаю книгу.
If you reverse the order, the comma is still needed:
Я читаю книгу, пока вода кипит.
Why is вода in the form вода, not something else?