Breakdown of Sie spricht schnell und vergisst die Nachrichten.
sie
she
und
and
schnell
fast, quickly
vergessen
to forget
sprechen
to speak
die Nachrichten
the news
Questions & Answers about Sie spricht schnell und vergisst die Nachrichten.
Why do spricht and vergisst both have an "i" in them instead of an "e"?
The dictionary forms of these verbs are sprechen (to speak) and vergessen (to forget). They belong to a special group of "strong" verbs that change their main vowel from "e" to "i" in the du (you) and er/sie/es (he/she/it) forms. Since the subject here is sie (she), the vowel changes!
How can I tell that sie means "she" and not "they" or formal "you" here?
You can solve this by looking at the verb endings! Both spricht and vergisst end in -t, which is the standard ending for the er/sie/es (he/she/it) forms. If sie meant "they" or "you" (formal), the verbs would keep their -en endings: Sie sprechen and vergessen.
Why doesn't schnell have an ending like "-ly" to mean "quickly"?
In German, words that describe verbs (adverbs) usually look exactly the same as the basic adjective. You don't need to add a special ending like "-ly" in English. So, schnell can mean "fast" or "quickly" depending on how it's used in the sentence.
Wait, is die Nachrichten plural? In English, "the news" is singular.
Yes, it is plural! A single piece of news is die Nachricht (which can also mean "the message"). When talking about "the news" in general, such as a news broadcast or current events, German almost always uses the plural form die Nachrichten.
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