Breakdown of Когда малышка засыпает, мама тихо выключает свет.
Questions & Answers about Когда малышка засыпает, мама тихо выключает свет.
Because Когда малышка засыпает is a subordinate time clause introduced by когда (when). In Russian, clauses like this are normally separated by a comma:
- Когда малышка засыпает, мама тихо выключает свет.
This is true whether the когда-clause comes first or second:
- Когда малышка засыпает, мама тихо выключает свет.
- Мама тихо выключает свет, когда малышка засыпает.
Russian often uses the present tense for things that happen regularly or as a general pattern. Here the sentence means something like:
- Whenever the little girl is falling asleep, mom quietly turns off the light
- or When the little girl falls asleep, mom quietly turns off the light in a habitual sense.
So:
- засыпает = is falling asleep / falls asleep
- выключает = turns off
This is not necessarily about one specific moment happening right now. It sounds like a usual repeated situation.
Засыпает means is falling asleep or drifts off to sleep. It describes the process of going from awake to asleep.
Спит means .