Курсор как раз перестал двигаться, когда я хотела нажать на ярлык и открыть форму.

Перестал is the past tense of перестать, which means to stop in the sense of to cease doing something.

Russian commonly uses this pattern:

• перестать + infinitive

So:

• перестал двигаться = stopped moving

Here:

• перестал = stopped
• двигаться = to move

This is very natural Russian. Compare:

• Он перестал говорить. = He stopped talking.
• Дождь перестал идти. = The rain stopped falling.

So Курсор как раз перестал двигаться literally means The cursor had just stopped moving or The cursor stopped moving right then.

Двигаться means to move / to be moving as an intransitive verb — the thing itself is moving.

That matters because the cursor is not moving something else; it is itself moving.

Compare:

• двигать = to move something
  • Я двигаю стол. = I’m moving the table.
• двигаться = to move
  • Курсор двигается. = The cursor is moving.

So:

• перестал двигаться = stopped moving
• not перестал двигать, because that would suggest the cursor stopped moving something else.

In the past tense, Russian verbs agree with the subject in gender and number.

The subject here is курсор, which is a masculine noun, so the verb is masculine singular:

• курсор → перестал

Compare:

• мышь перестала двигаться = The mouse stopped moving
  (мышь is feminine, so перестала)
• окно перестало открываться = The window stopped opening
  (окно is neuter, so перестало)

Как раз adds the idea of just, exactly, or right at that moment.

In this sentence, it emphasizes timing:

• Курсор как раз перестал двигаться...
• The cursor stopped moving just as...
• The cursor happened to stop moving right when...

It often highlights coincidence or exact timing.

Examples:

• Я как раз уходил, когда он пришёл. = I was just leaving when he arrived.
• Это как раз то, что мне нужно. = That’s exactly what I need.

So here it helps create the sense: At that exact moment, the cursor stopped moving.

Because когда means when, and it introduces the time clause:

• когда я хотела нажать... = when I wanted / was about to click...

Russian uses когда very much like English when in sentences about past events.

Structure:

• main clause: Курсор как раз перестал двигаться
• subordinate time clause: когда я хотела нажать на ярлык и открыть форму

So the sentence means that one past event happened at the time another past situation was happening.

Because in Russian, subordinate clauses are normally separated by a comma.

Here когда я хотела нажать на ярлык и открыть форму is a subordinate clause introduced by когда, so it must be set off with a comma:

• Курсор как раз перестал двигаться, когда...

This is standard Russian punctuation.

Хотела is the past tense of хотеть (to want), which is imperfective.

In this sentence, я хотела нажать... often means not only I wanted to click... but also something like:

• I was intending to click
• I was about to click
• I meant to click

It describes an ongoing intention or a state at that moment, not a sudden completed event.

If you used захотела, that would usually mean I suddenly wanted / felt like doing it, which is a different meaning.

So:

• я хотела нажать = I wanted / was about to click
• я захотела нажать = I suddenly decided / felt the desire to click

Because the verb agrees with the speaker’s gender in the past tense.

Russian past-tense verbs reflect gender for singular subjects:

• я хотел = I wanted (male speaker)
• я хотела = I wanted (female speaker)

So this sentence tells us the speaker is female.

If a man were speaking, it would be:

• Курсор как раз перестал двигаться, когда я хотел нажать на ярлык и открыть форму.

They are perfective because they refer to single, complete actions:

• нажать = to press / click
• открыть = to open

After хотела, Russian often uses the infinitive that best matches the intended action. Here the speaker intended to perform two completed actions:

1. click on the shortcut
2. open the form

That is why perfective verbs fit naturally.

Compare:

• Я хотела читать. = I wanted to read (process, ongoing activity)
• Я хотела прочитать письмо. = I wanted to read the letter (complete action)

So хотела нажать и открыть suggests a concrete intended result, not just an ongoing process.

With the meaning to press/click on something, Russian commonly uses:

• нажать на + accusative

So:

• нажать на ярлык = to click on the shortcut/icon

This is similar to:

• нажать на кнопку = press the button
• нажать на ссылку = click the link

The noun ярлык is in the accusative case here. For an inanimate masculine noun like ярлык, nominative and accusative look the same:

• nominative: ярлык
• accusative: ярлык

So the form does not change, but the case is still accusative.

In computer-related Russian, ярлык usually means shortcut — especially a desktop shortcut.

Depending on context, English might translate it as:

• shortcut
• sometimes loosely icon

But strictly speaking:

• ярлык = shortcut
• иконка = icon

So if this is a desktop/program context, ярлык probably means the clickable shortcut the speaker intended to use.

Because both infinitives depend on the same verb хотела.

So the structure is:

• я хотела [нажать на ярлык] и [открыть форму]

In English, this works the same way:

• I wanted to click the shortcut and open the form.

Russian does not need to repeat хотела before the second infinitive.

It can suggest both, depending on context.

Grammatically, it says she wanted:

1. to click on the shortcut
2. to open the form

But in a computer context, the second action is probably the intended result of the first. So in natural English, the sense may be:

• I was about to click the shortcut to open the form.

Russian often allows this kind of coordination even when the first action leads to the second.

So the literal grammar is click and open, but the practical meaning may be click in order to open.

Yes, very often.

In context, когда я хотела нажать... can naturally mean:

• when I wanted to click...
• when I was about to click...
• when I was just going to click...

Russian хотеть + infinitive sometimes expresses immediate intention, not only desire.

Because the sentence describes a moment of interruption, English was about to may sound especially natural:

• The cursor stopped moving just as I was about to click the shortcut and open the form.

So the exact English wording depends on context, but this is a very common nuance.

Russian word order is flexible, but different placements affect emphasis.

The original:

• Курсор как раз перестал двигаться, когда...

puts как раз close to перестал, emphasizing the exact timing of the stopping.

Other positions are possible, for example:

• Как раз курсор перестал двигаться, когда...
• Курсор перестал как раз двигаться...
  This last one sounds less natural.

So the chosen order is natural and clear. It highlights that the cursor stopped moving at exactly that moment.

Because открыть takes a direct object, and direct objects are usually in the accusative case.

So:

• открыть форму = to open the form

Here форма is a feminine noun, and its accusative singular is форму:

• nominative: форма
• accusative: форму

That is why the ending changes.

Compare:

• открыть файл = open the file
• открыть папку = open the folder
• открыть форму = open the form