Breakdown of Wir dürfen hier nicht rauchen.
hier
here
wir
we
nicht
not
dürfen
to be allowed to, may
rauchen
to smoke
Questions & Answers about Wir dürfen hier nicht rauchen.
Why does the translation say "not allowed to" instead of "must not"?
In German, the modal verb dürfen means "to be allowed to" or "may". So nicht dürfen literally means "not allowed to". If you want to express a strict prohibition like "must not" in English, you always use nicht dürfen in German, rather than nicht müssen.
Why is rauchen at the very end of the sentence?
When you use a modal verb like dürfen, the conjugated modal verb takes the second position in the sentence. The main action verb (rauchen) gets pushed all the way to the very end in its dictionary form (the infinitive).
Why is nicht placed right before rauchen?
In sentences with a modal verb and an action verb at the end, nicht usually goes right before the verb it is negating. Here, it directly negates the action of smoking (rauchen), so it sits right in front of it.
Why does wir dürfen have an umlaut (ü) when forms like ich darf do not?
dürfen is a modal verb, which means its singular forms are irregular and change their vowel (from ü to a for ich, du, er, sie, and es). However, the plural forms like wir (we) always use the regular dictionary form and keep the ü.
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