Breakdown of Er liest die Zeitung und vergisst den Kaffee.
er
he
und
and
der Kaffee
the coffee
lesen
to read
die Zeitung
the newspaper
vergessen
to forget
Questions & Answers about Er liest die Zeitung und vergisst den Kaffee.
Why is it liest instead of "lest"?
liest comes from the verb lesen (to read). This is a verb where the main vowel changes from e to ie when you use it with "you" (singular) or "he/she/it". That makes the "he" form er liest.
The dictionary says "to forget" is vergessen. Why does vergisst have an i instead of an e?
Just like lesen, vergessen is a vowel-changing verb. The e in the stem changes to an i for "he/she/it", making it er vergisst. Notice that the change here is just to i, not ie like in liest.
If the stem of vergessen is vergess-, shouldn't the "he" form add a -t to make "vergisstt"?
Normally, you add a -t to the stem for "he/she/it". But because the stem vergess- already ends in an s sound, the language simplifies the ending so you don't end up with a clunky pronunciation. It just merges into vergisst.
Why is it den Kaffee instead of der Kaffee?
Kaffee is a masculine noun, so its dictionary word for "the" is der. But because the coffee is the thing being forgotten (the direct object), it takes the accusative case, which changes der to den. The newspaper is also a direct object, but feminine words like die Zeitung don't change their "the" word.
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