Je nachdem, wie viel Zeit ich habe, scrolle ich nur kurz durch die Nachrichten oder lese einen langen Artikel.

Je nachdem means depending on that, or more naturally in English, depending on.

In this sentence, je nachdem, wie viel Zeit ich habe means:

• depending on how much time I have

It is a very common way to introduce a condition that affects what happens next.

You will often see patterns like:

• Je nachdem, ob ... = depending on whether ...
• Je nachdem, wie ... = depending on how ...
• Je nachdem, was ... = depending on what ...

So here, the speaker says that what they do changes according to how much time they have.

Because wie viel Zeit ich habe is a subordinate clause, and German separates subordinate clauses with commas.

So the structure is:

• Je nachdem, wie viel Zeit ich habe, ...

You can think of je nachdem as introducing an idea like depending on, and the clause wie viel Zeit ich habe gives the detail.

German comma rules are stricter than English ones, so commas appear in places where English may or may not use one.

Because this is not a direct question. It is an embedded question inside a larger sentence.

Compare:

• Direct question: Wie viel Zeit habe ich? = How much time do I have?
• Embedded question: ..., wie viel Zeit ich habe = ... how much time I have

In embedded questions, German sends the conjugated verb to the end of the clause. That is why habe comes after ich here.

Because German main clauses follow the verb-second rule.

The first position in the sentence is taken by the introductory clause:

• Je nachdem, wie viel Zeit ich habe,

After that, the conjugated verb of the main clause must come next:

• scrolle

So the order becomes:

• Je nachdem, wie viel Zeit ich habe, scrolle ich ...

If the sentence started directly with the subject, then you would get:

• Ich scrolle nur kurz ...

But since something else comes first, the verb moves before the subject.

Nur kurz means only briefly, just for a moment, or just quickly.

Here:

• scrolle ich nur kurz durch die Nachrichten
• = I only scroll through the news/messages briefly

Breaking it down:

• nur = only / just
• kurz = short / briefly

Together they function adverbially and describe how long the action lasts.

It means to scroll through the news or to scroll through the messages, depending on context.

The pattern is:

• durch + accusative + scrollen

So:

• durch die Nachrichten scrollen = to scroll through the news/messages

This use of durch is similar to English through.

A few similar examples:

• durch Instagram scrollen = scroll through Instagram
• durch die E-Mails scrollen = scroll through the emails

It can mean either, depending on context.

• die Nachrichten = the news
• die Nachrichten = the messages

In this sentence, both are possible in theory, but many learners would understand it as the news, especially because the second option is lese einen langen Artikel, which fits well with reading news content.

So the likely idea is:

• If I do not have much time, I just skim or scroll through the news.
• If I have more time, I read a long article.

Because German, like English, often leaves out the repeated subject when two verbs share the same subject.

So:

• scrolle ich nur kurz durch die Nachrichten oder lese einen langen Artikel

means:

• I scroll briefly through the news or read a long article

The subject ich applies to both verbs:

• scrolle
• lese

You could also say:

• ..., scrolle ich nur kurz durch die Nachrichten oder ich lese einen langen Artikel.

But that sounds more repetitive and is usually unnecessary unless you want extra emphasis.

Because Artikel is masculine and it is the direct object of lesen, so it is in the accusative case.

Base form:

• ein langer Artikel = a long article

After lesen:

• ich lese einen langen Artikel = I read a long article

The accusative masculine endings are:

• ein → einen
• langer → langen

So this is a standard accusative masculine phrase.

It is in the present tense:

• habe
• scrolle
• lese

In German, the present tense is often used for:

• things happening now
• repeated habits
• general routines

Here it most naturally describes a habit or usual behavior:

• Depending on how much time I have, I either scroll briefly through the news or read a long article.

So even though the English meaning may feel habitual, German does not need a special tense for that.

It is joining two coordinated actions with the same subject.

Structure:

• scrolle ich nur kurz durch die Nachrichten
• oder lese einen langen Artikel

The subject ich is understood in both parts, so the second part does not need its own subject again.

You can think of it as:

• I either scroll briefly through the news, or read a long article.

So grammatically, oder links two coordinated verb phrases within the main clause.

Not with the same meaning and naturalness.

Je nachdem, wie viel Zeit ich habe is the normal way to say:

• depending on how much time I have

Je nach does exist, but it is used differently:

• je nach Zeit
• je nach Wetter
• je nach Situation

That means something like:

• depending on the time
• depending on the weather
• depending on the situation

So je nach is usually followed by a noun, while je nachdem is often followed by a clause.

That is why the original sentence sounds natural:

• Je nachdem, wie viel Zeit ich habe, ...

Yes. Scrollen is a common modern German verb borrowed from English.

It is used like a regular weak verb:

• ich scrolle
• du scrollst
• er/sie scrollt
• wir scrollen

Past participle:

• gescrollt

Many technology-related verbs in German come from English and are used this way. In everyday speech and writing, scrollen sounds completely normal.