Questions & Answers about Мы не спешим, мы отдыхаем.
Why do the two verbs in this sentence have different endings (спешим vs. отдыхаем)?
Because they belong to different verb groups (conjugations). Спешим comes from the verb спешить (to hurry), which is a second conjugation verb ending in -ить. For мы (we), these verbs take the ending -им. On the other hand, отдыхаем comes from отдыхать (to rest), a first conjugation verb ending in -ать, which takes the ending -ем.
I know ш is a hard consonant. Why is it followed by и in спешим instead of ы?
This is a great catch! You are seeing the 7-letter spelling rule in action. Even though ш always sounds hard, Russian spelling rules dictate that after the letters ж, ш, ч, щ, к, г, and х, you must always write и instead of ы.
How would I change спешим to say 'he is hurrying'?
For second conjugation verbs like спешить, the ending for 'he', 'she', or 'it' (он, она, оно) is -ит. To say 'he is hurrying', you drop the -им from our sentence and add -ит, making it он спешит.
Why aren't there any words for 'are' in the Russian sentence?
Russian does not use a helper verb like 'to be' in the present tense to show ongoing actions. A single Russian verb form covers both the simple and continuous meanings in English. Therefore, мы спешим translates to both 'we hurry' and 'we are hurrying'.
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