Breakdown of Nie słyszę, oni mówią cicho.
nie
no / not
oni
they (masculine personal)
mówić
to speak
słyszeć
to hear
Questions & Answers about Nie słyszę, oni mówią cicho.
Why does the verb for "I hear" end in -ę (słyszę)?
The verb słyszeć (to hear) belongs to the conjugation group we are learning right now. For these verbs, the "I" form ends in -ę (ja słyszę) and the "you" form ends in -ysz (ty słyszysz).
How do we get mówią from mówić (to speak)?
mówić belongs to the -ę / -isz group. To make the "they" form (oni or one) for this group, you take the root of the verb and add -ą. This is why the "they" form of mówić is mówią.
Why does the word for "quietly" end in -o (cicho)?
In Polish, you can turn many adjectives into adverbs (words that describe an action) by replacing their ending with -o. The adjective cichy (quiet) becomes the adverb cicho (quietly) to describe how they are speaking.
Why did we leave out the word for "I" before słyszę, but keep the word for "they" (oni)?