Пока мы ждали зелёный свет, таксист спокойно стоял перед зеброй и никого не торопил.

Пока is a very flexible word in Russian. Its meaning depends on context.

In this sentence, Пока мы ждали зелёный свет... means While we were waiting for the green light...

Why while here?

• it introduces a time background
• the verb ждали is imperfective, showing an ongoing action
• the main clause describes something happening during that same time

So the structure is:

• Пока мы ждали... = While we were waiting...
• not Until we waited..., which would not make sense in English or Russian here

Compare:

• Пока я читал, он готовил ужин. = While I was reading, he was cooking dinner.
• Подожди пока я приду. = Wait until I come.

So пока can mean either while or until, and the sentence context tells you which one it is.

Ждали is the past plural form of ждать = to wait.

It is plural because the subject is мы = we.

So:

• я ждал / ждала = I waited / was waiting
• мы ждали = we waited / were waiting

It is also imperfective, which is important here. Imperfective is used because the waiting is presented as an ongoing process, not as a completed event.

So мы ждали here is closer to:

• we were waiting

than to:

• we waited as a finished whole event

That fits the sentence, because the clause sets the scene for what the taxi driver was doing during that time.

Because ждать normally takes the accusative case.

So:

• ждать свет = to wait for the light
• ждать зелёный свет = to wait for the green light

Here, свет is a masculine inanimate noun. For masculine inanimate nouns, the accusative singular is the same as the nominative singular. That is why it stays свет.

And the adjective agrees with it:

• nominative: зелёный свет
• accusative masculine inanimate: зелёный свет

So even though this is the accusative, it looks the same as the dictionary form.

A learner might expect зелёного света, because that form does exist, but it would be used in other grammatical situations, not here.

Here зелёный свет means the green light at a traffic signal.

Russian often uses свет in this kind of traffic context:

• ждать зелёный свет = wait for the green light
• ехать на красный свет = drive through a red light

So this is not just talking about the color green in the abstract. It specifically means the signal telling traffic or pedestrians that it is allowed to go.

Because Пока мы ждали зелёный свет is a subordinate clause, and Russian normally separates subordinate clauses from the main clause with a comma.

So the structure is:

• Пока мы ждали зелёный свет,
• таксист спокойно стоял перед зеброй и никого не торопил.

This is very standard Russian punctuation.

In English, you also usually put a comma when a subordinate clause comes first:

• While we were waiting for the green light, the taxi driver...

Both are possible, but таксист is the normal, everyday word for taxi driver.

• таксист = taxi driver
• водитель такси = literally driver of a taxi

The second version is a bit more descriptive or formal. In ordinary speech, таксист is completely natural.

So in this sentence, таксист is simply the most idiomatic choice.

Yes, basically спокойно стоял means stood calmly or waited calmly.

Word by word:

• спокойно = calmly, quietly
• стоял = stood, was standing

But in context, it may sound more natural in English as:

• was waiting calmly
• remained calm
• sat/kept still calmly if the person is in a car, though the Russian literally says stood

Russian often uses стоять with vehicles in the sense of be stationary or be stopped:

• машина стояла у дома = the car was parked/stationary by the house

So here таксист спокойно стоял does not necessarily mean the driver was physically standing outside the taxi. It can describe the taxi being stopped and the driver not behaving impatiently.

Because the sentence is describing a situation in progress, not a single completed action.

Стоять is imperfective, and стоял here gives a background description:

• he was standing
• he remained stopped
• he stayed there calmly

This matches the other imperfective verbs in the sentence:

• ждали
• стоял
• торопил

All three help paint a continuous scene rather than a chain of completed actions.

If Russian used a perfective verb here, the meaning would shift toward a single completed act, which would not fit the calm, ongoing traffic situation as well.

Here зебра means a zebra crossing or pedestrian crosswalk, not the animal.

This is a very common Russian word for the striped pedestrian crossing on the road.

So:

• перед зеброй = in front of the crosswalk
• literally: in front of the zebra

Russian speakers immediately understand this road meaning from context.

Because перед requires the instrumental case.

The noun зебра is feminine, and its instrumental singular form is зеброй.

So:

• nominative: зебра
• instrumental: зеброй

That gives:

• перед зеброй = in front of the crosswalk

This is a useful pattern to remember:

• перед домом = in front of the house
• перед машиной = in front of the car
• перед зеброй = in front of the crosswalk

Because никого is the form used for no one / nobody when it is the object of the verb.

Here, the subject is таксист, and никого is the person affected by the action:

• таксист никого не торопил = the taxi driver was not hurrying anyone

Compare:

• Никто не торопил таксиста. = Nobody was hurrying the taxi driver.
  Here никто is the subject.

So the difference is grammatical role:

• никто = nobody, as subject
• никого = nobody/no one, as object

Торопить means to hurry someone, to rush someone, or to urge someone to go faster.

So никого не торопил means:

• he was not pressuring anyone
• he was not trying to hurry anyone along
• he was not rushing pedestrians or other drivers

This is a nice example of Russian using a verb that English often expresses with a longer phrase.

Compare:

• Я тороплю его. = I’m hurrying him / urging him to be quicker.
• Не торопи меня. = Don’t rush me.

Again, the imperfective fits the ongoing scene.

Никого не торопил does not mean he completed one single act of hurrying someone. It means that during that whole time, he was not behaving in a pushy or impatient way.

So the idea is:

• while we were waiting,
• the taxi driver was standing calmly,
• and he was not rushing anyone.

This is exactly the kind of descriptive background where imperfective verbs are common.

It is intentionally broad. Никого simply means no one or anyone in general.

Depending on the situation, it could include:

• pedestrians at the crossing
• other drivers
• the passengers
• people around him generally

Russian often leaves this kind of object general if the point is just the person’s calm, non-aggressive behavior.

So the emphasis is not on exactly whom he might have rushed, but on the fact that he did not act impatiently toward anyone.

The word order is natural and neutral.

• Пока мы ждали зелёный свет sets the time frame
• таксист is the subject of the main clause
• спокойно comes before стоял, which is a normal position for an adverb
• перед зеброй tells where
• и никого не торопил adds a second action

Russian word order is more flexible than English, so some rearrangement is possible for emphasis. For example:

• Пока мы ждали зелёный свет, спокойно перед зеброй стоял таксист...

would sound marked or literary, not neutral.

The original sentence is straightforward and natural for everyday narration.