Questions & Answers about Пока мама готовит ужин, я накрою на стол.
What does пока mean here?
Here пока means while.
So:
- Пока мама готовит ужин = While Mom is cooking dinner
- я накрою на стол = I’ll set the table
A useful thing to know is that пока can also mean for now or sometimes until, depending on context. But in this sentence, with two actions happening in the same general time frame, it means while.
Why is готовит in the present tense if the whole sentence is about the future?
In Russian, the present-tense form of an imperfective verb is often used after пока to mean something like while someone is doing something.
So мама готовит ужин literally looks like Mom cooks/is cooking dinner, but in this context it means:
- while Mom is cooking dinner
This is natural in Russian. English often uses a future-related form in the whole sentence, but Russian does not need to make both verbs future.
Why is it накрою, not накрываю or буду накрывать?