Когда духовка снова заработала, мама допекла пирог до конца.

When the oven started working again, Mom finished baking the pie.

Breakdown of Когда духовка снова заработала, мама допекла пирог до конца.

• когда: when
• пирог: the pie
• снова: again
• до: to

Questions & Answers about Когда духовка снова заработала, мама допекла пирог до конца.

Why is there a comma after заработала?

Because Когда духовка снова заработала is a subordinate time clause: When the oven started working again. In Russian, subordinate clauses are normally separated from the main clause by a comma.

So the sentence is structured like this:

• Когда духовка снова заработала = subordinate clause
• мама допекла пирог до конца = main clause

Russian does this very regularly, even when English punctuation can feel less strict.

What does когда do here?

Когда means when and introduces a time clause.

In this sentence, it tells us at what point the main action happened:

• Когда духовка снова заработала = When the oven started working again
• мама допекла пирог до конца = Mom finished baking the pie

So когда connects the two events in time.

Why is it заработала, and what exactly does it mean here?