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### The Impersonal Pronoun "man"

In English, to make a general statement that applies to everyone, we use "you", "people", or "one". In German, you express this with the impersonal pronoun **man**.

Don't confuse **man** with the noun **der Mann** (the man). The pronoun **man** is written lowercase (unless it starts a sentence) and has only one "n".

Grammatically, **man** acts just like **er**, **sie**, or **es**. It always takes the third-person singular form of the verb.

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### Expressing Rules and Guidelines

Because **man** refers to people in general, it is perfect for expressing social rules or guidelines. It frequently pairs with modal verbs like **sollen** (should), **dürfen** (to be allowed to), or **können** (can) to describe what "one" should or shouldn't do in a certain place.

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You can also use it without a modal verb to state what people generally do (or don't do) in a specific situation.

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### Word Order with "man"

Like any subject pronoun, **man** prefers to stay close to the conjugated verb. In a standard sentence, **man** is in the first position and the verb is in the second.

However, if you start the sentence with a location or a question word, the verb remains locked in the second position. When this happens, **man** simply slides into the third position, right after the verb.

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The impersonal pronoun (man)

adjective

adverb

auxiliary verb

conjunction

determiner

interjection

noun

numeral

particle

preposition

pronoun

sentence

verb

Definite articles and gender (der, die, das)

Indefinite articles (ein, eine)

Regular verbs and statement word order (ich -e, er -t)

The second person (du -st, Sie -en)

Yes/No questions

The verb 'to have' (habe, hast, hat)

Plural pronouns and regular verbs (wir, ihr, sie)

Plural 'to be' and 'to have' (sind, haben)

Plural nouns and the plural article (die)

Sentence negation (nicht)

Noun negation (kein, keine)

Question words (wer, was, wo, wie)

Numbers 0 to 12 (null, eins, zwei)

The accusative case (den, die, das)

Indefinite accusative articles (einen, keinen)

Direct object pronouns (mich, dich, ihn)

There is / there are (es gibt)

Vowel changes: e to i/ie (er spricht, sie liest)

Vowel changes: a to ä (er fährt)

Weather and conditions (es regnet)

First- and second-person possessives in the nominative (mein, dein, Ihr)

First- and second-person possessives in the accusative (meinen, deinen, Ihren)

Third-person and plural possessives (sein, ihr, unser, euer)

Possession with names (Annas Auto)

Demonstrative pronouns (dieser, diese, dieses)

Expressing preference (gern, lieber)

Asking about direction and origin (woher, wohin)

Expressing ability (können)

Polite requests (möchten)

Expressing intention (wollen)

Modal verbs of obligation and permission (müssen, dürfen)

Separable prefix verbs

Adverbs of frequency (immer, oft, manchmal, nie)

The Dative case and definite articles (dem, der, den)

Dative indefinite and negative articles (einem, einer, keinem)

Dative personal pronouns (mir, dir, ihm, ihr...)

Dative verbs (helfen, danken, gefallen, schmecken)

Dative prepositions (aus, bei, mit, nach...)

Accusative prepositions (für, ohne, gegen)

Two-way prepositions for location (in, an, auf...)

Informal singular imperative (mach, komm)

Plural and formal imperative (macht, machen Sie)

Coordinating conjunctions (und, oder, aber, denn)

Simple past of sein and haben (war, hatte)

The perfect tense: regular verbs (gemacht, gespielt)

Past tense: irregular verbs (ge-...-en)

The perfect tense: mixed verbs (gebracht, gekannt)

The perfect tense with sein (ist gegangen)

The perfect tense: separable verbs (eingekauft)

The perfect tense: inseparable and -ieren verbs (besucht, studiert)

Informal singular commands (mach, lern)

Numbers 13 to 20 (dreizehn to zwanzig)

Counting by tens to 100 (dreißig, vierzig)

Telling time (Uhr, halb, Viertel, vor, nach)

Numbers 21 to 99 (einundzwanzig, zweiunddreißig)

Greetings and farewells

Thank you, sorry and good wishes

Everyday replies

Numbers 100 to 1,000,000 (hundert, tausend...)

Becoming and getting (werden)

Indefinite pronouns (jemand, niemand...)

Time sequence prepositions (vor, nach, bei)

Time span prepositions (von... bis, seit, für)

Adverbs of sequence (zuerst, dann, danach)

Two-way prepositions for direction (in, auf, an...)

Directional adverbs (hin, her)

Placement verbs (setzen, stellen, legen)

Months of the year (Januar, Februar)

The four seasons (Frühling, Sommer)

Time prepositions and indefinite pronouns (an, in, um)

Ordinal numbers 1st to 19th (am ersten)

Ordinals 20th and beyond (-ste, -sten)

Placement vs. location verbs (stellen vs. stehen)

Accusative reflexive pronouns (mich, dich, sich)

Accusative reflexive verbs (sich freuen)

Dative reflexive pronouns (mir, dir, sich)

Dative reflexive verbs (sich etwas merken)

Ordinal numbers 11th to 19th (-te)

Temporal prepositions (an, in, um)

Double objects with nouns

Double objects with pronouns

The modal verb for advice (sollen)

Simple past of modal verbs (musste, wollte...)

Simple past of common irregulars (wurde, wusste, es gab)

Adverbial connectors of consequence (deshalb, darum...)

Subordinate clauses for statements (dass)

Subordinate clauses for reasons (weil)

Question	Answer
one / you (impersonal)	man
should / ought to	sollen
the library	die Bibliothek
One should be quiet in the library.	Man soll in der Bibliothek leise sein.
One is not allowed to eat in the library.	In der Bibliothek darf man nicht essen.
the hospital	das Krankenhaus
One should not smoke in the hospital.	In dem Krankenhaus soll man nicht rauchen.
One helps the child in the hospital.	Man hilft dem Kind in dem Krankenhaus.
the street	die Straße
One must not drive fast on the street.	Auf der Straße darf man nicht schnell fahren.
the trash / the garbage	der Müll
One finds a lot of garbage on the street.	Man findet viel Müll auf der Straße.
to throw	werfen
Why does one throw garbage on the street?	Warum wirft man Müll auf der Straße?
One should please not throw garbage on the street!	Man soll bitte keinen Müll auf der Straße werfen!
the swimming pool	das Schwimmbad
dangerous	gefährlich
One does not run in the swimming pool, it is dangerous.	In dem Schwimmbad rennt man nicht, es ist gefährlich.
Where can one buy a ticket for the swimming pool?	Wo kann man ein Ticket für das Schwimmbad kaufen?
better	besser
One always wants to become better.	Man will immer besser werden.
There is a problem, but one finds the solution.	Es gibt ein Problem, aber man findet die Lösung.
One learns better in the library, because it is quiet.	In der Bibliothek lernt man besser, denn es ist ruhig.
One is not allowed to run in the swimming pool, because it is dangerous.	Man darf im Schwimmbad nicht rennen, denn es ist gefährlich.
there's nothing to be done about it	da kann man nichts machen
There's nothing to be done about it.	Da kann man nichts machen.
It is raining. There's nothing to be done about it.	Es regnet. Da kann man nichts machen.

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