Breakdown of Der Chef liest die E-Mail und vergisst die Zeit.
und
and
die Zeit
the time
lesen
to read
die E-Mail
the e-mail
Questions & Answers about Der Chef liest die E-Mail und vergisst die Zeit.
Why is it liest instead of "lest"?
liest comes from the verb lesen (to read). It is a strong verb, which means it changes its stem vowel in the "du" (you) and "er/sie/es" (he/she/it) forms. Here, the e changes to ie for Der Chef (he).
How do we form vergisst from the verb vergessen?
vergessen (to forget) is another strong verb. As the current lesson shows, the first e in the stem changes to i for the third-person singular (he/she/it). Then, we add the standard -t ending, giving us vergisst.
Why do liest and vergisst look exactly like their "du" (you informal) forms?
The standard ending for "er/sie/es" (he/she/it) is just -t. Normally, the "du" form adds -st, but because the stems of lesen and vergessen already end in an "s" sound, their "du" forms drop the extra "s" and just add -t. This makes the "du" and "er/sie/es" forms completely identical for these verbs!
Why is E-Mail feminine (die E-Mail)?
English loanwords in German often take the gender of their native German equivalent. Since die Post (the mail) is feminine, die E-Mail became feminine too. Notice that it is also capitalized, just like all German nouns!