Zuerst lese ich die E-Mail, danach speichere ich das Dokument.

German main clauses usually follow the verb-second rule, often called V2.

In this sentence:

• Zuerst lese ich die E-Mail
• danach speichere ich das Dokument

the first position is taken by zuerst and danach, which are adverbs of time. Because they are in first position, the conjugated verb must come next:

• Zuerst lese ich ...
• Danach speichere ich ...

That is why German says:

• Danach speichere ich ...

and not:

• Danach ich speichere ...

So the pattern is:

• time word + verb + subject + rest

They are adverbs, specifically adverbs that show time/order.

• zuerst = first / first of all
• danach = afterward / after that

They help organize actions in sequence.

So this sentence is structured like:

1. First I read the email.
2. After that I save the document.

These words are very common in German for describing steps, routines, or instructions.

Because the subject is ich, and the verbs are conjugated to match it.

The infinitives are:

• lesen = to read
• speichern = to save

For ich, the forms are:

• ich lese
• ich speichere

So:

• Zuerst lese ich ...
• danach speichere ich ...

Notice that lesen is a strong verb, but in the ich form here it is simply lese.
And speichern is a regular verb, so ich speichere follows the normal pattern.

Because German nouns have grammatical gender, and their articles must match.

• die E-Mail is feminine
• das Dokument is neuter

So their singular definite articles are:

• die for feminine
• das for neuter

You simply have to learn the noun together with its article:

• die E-Mail
• das Dokument

That is much better than learning the noun alone.

These nouns are the direct objects of the verbs:

• read the email
• save the document

So they are in the accusative case.

But in this sentence, the forms happen to look the same as the nominative:

• feminine singular: die stays die
• neuter singular: das stays das

So:

• nominative: die E-Mail, das Dokument
• accusative: die E-Mail, das Dokument

If the noun were masculine, you would see a clearer change:

• nominative: der Computer
• accusative: den Computer

Yes, often you can.

For example:

• Zuerst lese ich die E-Mail, dann speichere ich das Dokument.

This is very natural.

The difference is small:

• dann = then
• danach = after that

danach can sound a little more explicitly sequential, while dann is often the most everyday choice. In many contexts, both work well.

Because the sentence contains two main clauses:

• Zuerst lese ich die E-Mail
• danach speichere ich das Dokument

German often uses a comma to separate main clauses placed next to each other, especially when the sentence flows as a sequence of actions.

You could also write them as two separate sentences:

• Zuerst lese ich die E-Mail. Danach speichere ich das Dokument.

Both are correct. The version with a comma keeps the two actions closely connected.

Because all German nouns are capitalized.

So:

• die E-Mail
• das Dokument

This is one of the most noticeable differences from English. In German, noun capitalization is normal and required.

Because E-Mail is the standard German spelling of the word.

It comes from English, but German writes it with a hyphen:

• die E-Mail

This is just the normal dictionary form, so it is best to learn it exactly that way.

Yes, to some extent. German word order is flexible, but the verb-second rule still applies in main clauses.

For example, you could also say:

• Ich lese zuerst die E-Mail, danach speichere ich das Dokument.

This still means basically the same thing. The difference is mainly in emphasis:

• Zuerst lese ich ... puts emphasis on first
• Ich lese zuerst ... puts ich in first position and sounds a bit more neutral about the sequence

But you cannot ignore the V2 rule. So if zuerst is first, the verb must still come next:

• correct: Zuerst lese ich ...
• incorrect: Zuerst ich lese ...

Not exactly.

• zuerst means first / first of all
• erst often means only, not until, or sometimes first depending on context

In a sequence of actions like this, zuerst is the clearer and more natural choice:

• Zuerst lese ich die E-Mail ...

If you used erst, it could create confusion because erst often has other meanings, such as:

• Ich komme erst morgen. = I’m only coming tomorrow / I’m not coming until tomorrow.

So for step-by-step order, zuerst is a very good choice.