По мере того как хлеб становился горячее в тостере, мама разливала чай по чашкам.

As the bread was getting hotter in the toaster, Mom was pouring tea into the cups.

Breakdown of По мере того как хлеб становился горячее в тостере, мама разливала чай по чашкам.

• в: in
• становиться: to become
• чай: the tea
• хлеб: the bread

Questions & Answers about По мере того как хлеб становился горячее в тостере, мама разливала чай по чашкам.

What does По мере того как mean here?

It means something like as, while, or more literally in proportion as. It introduces two actions or processes that develop alongside each other.

So in this sentence, the idea is:

• the bread was getting hotter
• at the same time, the mother was pouring tea into cups

It often suggests a gradual change happening step by step.

Why are both verbs in the imperfective past: становился and разливала?

Because the sentence describes ongoing, unfolding actions in the past, not single completed events.

• становился = was becoming / was getting
• разливала = was pouring

This is very natural when two actions are happening at the same time.

If you used perfective verbs, the focus would shift to completed results, which would not fit the same smooth background description as well.

Why is it становился, not стал?