Пока няня укачивает малыша, мама готовит ужин.

the dinner

Breakdown of Пока няня укачивает малыша, мама готовит ужин.

• мама: the mother
• пока: while
• готовить: to prepare

Questions & Answers about Пока няня укачивает малыша, мама готовит ужин.

What does пока mean here?

Here пока means while.

So Пока няня укачивает малыша, мама готовит ужин means While the nanny is rocking the baby, Mom is making dinner.

A learner may know пока as:

• for now
• bye / see you

But in this sentence it is a conjunction meaning while and introduces a subordinate clause.

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Why are both verbs in the present tense if English would often use is rocking and is making?

Russian does not have a separate tense form like the English present continuous.

So Russian often uses the present tense of an imperfective verb where English uses:

• rocks
• is rocking
• makes
• is making

In this sentence:

• укачивает = is rocking / rocks
• готовит = is making / cooks

Because the context shows ongoing simultaneous actions, English usually translates them with is rocking and is making, but Russian just uses the normal present tense.

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Why is it укачивает and готовит? What do these endings mean?