Breakdown of Sie liest die E-Mail, aber sie versteht die Frage nicht.
sie
she
verstehen
to understand
aber
but
die Frage
the question
nicht
not
lesen
to read
die E-Mail
the e-mail
Questions & Answers about Sie liest die E-Mail, aber sie versteht die Frage nicht.
Why is it liest instead of lest?
The verb here is lesen (to read). It is a strong verb that changes its vowel in the present tense. For du (you) and er/sie/es (he/she/it), the e in the stem changes to ie. So, lesen becomes sie liest (she reads).
The verb verstehen also has an 'e'. Why doesn't it change to verstieht?
Not all verbs with an e change their vowel! Verstehen (to understand) is a verb that keeps its normal vowel in the present tense, so it is just sie versteht. You will simply learn which verbs change their vowels and which do not as you practice them.
Why doesn't the word order change after aber?
The word aber (but) belongs to a small group of joining words called coordinating conjunctions. These words simply connect two sentences without changing their word order. Because of this, the second part of the sentence starts with the normal subject-verb order: sie versteht.
Why is nicht at the very end of the sentence?
When you want to say that someone does not do an action, the word nicht (not) usually gets pushed to the end of the phrase. Here, it negates the entire action of understanding the question, so it goes after the direct object die Frage.
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