Questions & Answers about Manden må ikke ryge.
Why is ikke placed between må and ryge?
In a standard Danish sentence with two verbs, the adverb ikke (not) comes right after the first verb (må) and before the second, infinitive verb (ryge).
Does må ikke mean "must not" or "does not have to"?
It means "must not" or "is not allowed to". To say someone "does not have to" do something, you would use behøver ikke instead. Må ikke is always a strict prohibition!
Why do we use the infinitive ryge instead of the present tense ryger?
Whenever you use a modal verb like må (must/may) or kan (can), the following verb must be in its dictionary form (the infinitive) without at (to). That is why we use ryge instead of ryger.
How do we know manden means "the man" and not just "a man"?
In Danish, the word for "the" is attached to the end of the noun. Because mand is a common gender word (an en-word), we add the suffix -en to make it manden (the man).