Едва я зашла в квартиру, как телефон снова зазвонил.

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Breakdown of Едва я зашла в квартиру, как телефон снова зазвонил.

• телефон: the phone
• квартира: the apartment
• снова: again

Questions & Answers about Едва я зашла в квартиру, как телефон снова зазвонил.

What is the role of едва ... как in this sentence?

Едва ... как is a common Russian pattern meaning hardly / scarcely ... when.

So the sentence structure is:

• Едва я зашла в квартиру,
• как телефон снова зазвонил.

This creates the idea that the second action happened almost immediately after the first one.

It is similar to English:

• Hardly had I entered the apartment when the phone rang again.
• As soon as I came into the apartment, the phone rang again.

A very close Russian equivalent is как только ... , ... but едва ... как often sounds a bit more literary or emphatic.

Why is the verb зашла feminine?

Because the speaker or subject я is understood to be female.

In the Russian past tense, verbs agree in gender and number:

• зашёл = masculine
• зашла = feminine
• зашло = neuter
• зашли = plural

So:

• If a man says it: Едва я зашёл в квартиру, как...
• If a woman says it: Едва я зашла в квартиру, как...

This is one of the important differences between Russian and English: past-tense verbs often show the speaker’s gender.

Why is it зашла, not ? What is the difference?