Breakdown of Auf der Straße darf man nicht schnell fahren.
schnell
fast, quickly
nicht
not
fahren
to drive, to travel
dürfen
to be allowed to, may
auf
on / to (down/up to a level)
man
one / you (impersonal)
die Straße
the street
Questions & Answers about Auf der Straße darf man nicht schnell fahren.
Why is the verb darf used with man?
The impersonal pronoun man always takes the same verb conjugation as the third-person singular pronouns er, sie, and es (he, she, it). Because this sentence uses the modal verb dürfen (to be allowed to), it conjugates to darf to match the subject man.
Does man always translate to "one"? It sounds a bit formal in English.
While it translates literally to "one", the German man is incredibly common in everyday, casual speech. In English, we would usually just say "you" (in a general sense) or "people". So a more natural English translation would be "You aren't allowed to drive fast on the street."
If dürfen means "to be allowed to" or "may", why does the translation say "must not"?
When you negate dürfen with nicht, it means "not allowed to". In English, the phrase "must not" is the most natural way to express that something is forbidden. Be careful not to use muss nicht here: in German, muss nicht means "don't have to", not "must not"!
Why is fahren pushed to the very end of the sentence?
This is the standard word order when you use a modal verb. The modal verb (darf) takes the second position in the sentence, and it pushes the main action verb (fahren) to the very end in its dictionary form (infinitive).
Why does the sentence say der Straße when the word for street is feminine (die Straße)?
This is because of the dative case. The preposition auf (on) can take either the accusative or dative case. Since it is describing a fixed location where an action happens (driving on the street) rather than movement to a new destination, it requires the dative case. In the dative case, the feminine die changes to der.
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