Word
Man soll immer die Wahrheit sagen.
Meaning
One should always tell the truth.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Man soll immer die Wahrheit sagen.
sagen
to say
immer
always
man
one / you (impersonal)
sollen
should / ought to
Questions & Answers about Man soll immer die Wahrheit sagen.
Why do we use soll instead of sollen here?
The subject is Man (one/people). Even though it refers to people in general, grammatically it acts like er, sie, or es (third-person singular). The matching form of the modal verb sollen is soll.
Does soll always translate to "should"?
Often it does, especially when giving advice or stating a moral rule like here. It can also mean "is supposed to" when someone else expects you to do something.
Why is sagen at the very end of the sentence?
This is the standard rule for sentences with modal verbs. The modal verb (soll) is conjugated and takes the second position in the sentence, pushing the main action verb (sagen) all the way to the end in its infinitive (unchanged) form.
What is the difference between Man and der Mann?
The word man (which is only capitalized here because it is at the start of the sentence) is a pronoun meaning "one" or the generic "you". The word der Mann (always capitalized, with a double 'n') is a noun meaning "the man" or "the husband".
Why do we use sagen (to say) instead of a word for "to tell"?