Breakdown of Man darf im Schwimmbad nicht rennen, denn es ist gefährlich.
sein
to be
es
it
in
in
nicht
not
dürfen
to be allowed to, may
denn
because
rennen
to run
man
one / you (impersonal)
das Schwimmbad
the swimming pool
gefährlich
dangerous
Questions & Answers about Man darf im Schwimmbad nicht rennen, denn es ist gefährlich.
Why do we use the verb form darf with the word man?
The word man is an impersonal pronoun meaning one, people, or you in a general sense. Grammatically, it always acts as a third-person singular subject, just like er, sie, or es. Because of this, the modal verb dürfen (to be allowed to) takes its third-person singular form, which is darf.
Why is the verb rennen at the very end of the first clause?
This is the standard German word order when using a modal verb. The conjugated modal verb darf takes the normal second position in the sentence, while the main action verb rennen (to run) gets pushed all the way to the end of the clause in its original infinitive form.
Why is im used here instead of just in?
im is a handy contraction of the preposition in and the dative article dem. We use the dative case here because running happens inside a fixed location. If the sentence described movement toward a new destination, like running into the pool building from the outside, it would use the accusative case (in das or ins).
Why does the verb ist stay in the second position after denn? Doesn't the word for because usually push the verb to the end?
It depends on which word you use! The word denn is a coordinating conjunction, meaning it links two independent clauses without changing their normal word order. It sits in position zero, so es is position one and ist is position two. If you used the word weil instead, it would indeed push the verb to the end: ... weil es gefährlich ist.
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