Я прибираю кімнату, поки вона готує вечерю.

Yes, я can often be left out in Ukrainian because the verb ending already shows the subject.

• прибираю = I clean / I am cleaning
• So Прибираю кімнату is also natural.

Speakers keep я when they want to:

• emphasize I
• make the sentence clearer
• contrast with someone else, like Я прибираю..., а вона готує...

So in this sentence, я is perfectly normal, but not always necessary.

Прибираю is the 1st person singular present-tense form of прибирати.

It means:

• I clean
• I am cleaning
• I tidy up

Ukrainian present tense often covers both the simple present and the English progressive, depending on context.

So Я прибираю кімнату can mean:

• I clean the room
• I am cleaning the room

Here, because of the context with поки, it is most naturally understood as an action happening right now.

Ukrainian does not have a special grammatical form like English am cleaning / is cooking.

Instead, it usually uses the present tense of an imperfective verb for:

• habitual actions: I clean
• ongoing actions: I am cleaning

So:

• Я прибираю can mean I clean or I am cleaning
• Вона готує can mean she cooks or she is cooking

The context tells you which meaning is intended.

Because кімната is the direct object of the verb прибираю, it goes into the accusative case.

• nominative: кімната = room
• accusative: кімнату = room as the object

So:

• кімната = the room as a subject
• прибираю кімнату = I clean the room

This is very common in Ukrainian: direct objects often take the accusative.

For the same reason as кімнату: вечеря is the direct object of готує, so it takes the accusative case.

• nominative: вечеря = dinner
• accusative: вечерю = dinner as the thing being prepared

So:

• вона готує вечерю = she is preparing dinner

Both кімната → кімнату and вечеря → вечерю show a very common feminine singular accusative pattern.

Here поки means while.

So it links two actions happening at the same time:

• Я прибираю кімнату
• вона готує вечерю

Together: one action happens while the other is happening.

Be careful: поки can also mean until in other contexts. Ukrainian learners often need to rely on context to tell which meaning is intended.

Usually no, not if you specifically mean while in this sentence.

• поки = while
• коли = when

So:

• Я прибираю кімнату, поки вона готує вечерю = I clean the room while she cooks dinner.
• коли would shift the meaning toward when, not simultaneous background action in the same way.

If you want the idea of two ongoing actions at the same time, поки is the better choice here.

Готує is the 3rd person singular present-tense form of готувати.

It means:

• she cooks
• she is cooking
• she prepares
• she is preparing

Because the subject is вона, the verb takes the he/she/it present ending:

• я готую = I cook
• вона готує = she cooks

It can sometimes be omitted, because готує already tells you the subject is he/she/it. But in this sentence, keeping вона is helpful because:

• it makes the contrast clearer: I am doing one thing, she is doing another
• without it, Я прибираю кімнату, поки готує вечерю sounds less clear and less natural by itself

So unlike я, which is often easy to drop, вона is more useful here for clarity.

Because поки вона готує вечерю is a subordinate clause, and Ukrainian normally separates it with a comma.

So the structure is:

• main clause: Я прибираю кімнату
• subordinate clause: поки вона готує вечерю

This is similar to English, where a comma is also often used before while when joining clauses like this.

Yes. Ukrainian word order is fairly flexible, though some versions sound more neutral than others.

Neutral order:

• Я прибираю кімнату, поки вона готує вечерю.

You could also say:

• Поки вона готує вечерю, я прибираю кімнату.

That version puts more focus on the time/background part first.

You can also move words around for emphasis, but the most natural basic version for learners is the original one.

Because the sentence describes ongoing or repeated actions, not completed results.

• прибирати is imperfective
• готувати is imperfective

Imperfective is used when you focus on:

• process
• duration
• repeated action
• what is happening right now

That fits this sentence well, because both actions are happening at the same time.

The meaning would change.

For example, perfective verbs usually point to:

• a completed action
• a result
• a one-time future action

So if you replaced the verbs with perfective forms, the sentence would no longer naturally describe two actions in progress right now.

For simultaneous ongoing actions like this, Ukrainian normally uses imperfective verbs.

It usually means the evening meal, so depending on context it can correspond to:

• dinner
• supper

In many learner translations, вечеря is given as dinner, but supper may also fit depending on the speaker’s variety of English and daily routine.

It can mean either, depending on context.

Прибирати often has the sense of:

• tidying up
• cleaning
• putting things in order

So Я прибираю кімнату could suggest:

• I’m tidying the room
• I’m cleaning the room

The exact nuance depends on the situation, not just the grammar.